Ketaib Hezbollah said in a statement posted on its website said it was behind Monday`s bombing in the Baladiyat district in eastern Baghdad.
"The occupiers are still staining our soil," the Arabic-language statement said, referring to American troops who have been stationed in Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion and are readying to finish a pullout at the end of this year.
"We killed and wounded tens of their (US) soldiers with this attack," the statement said.
A brief statement by the US military in Iraq said after the attack that "five US service members were killed Monday in central Iraq," without giving other details.
Ketaib Hezbollah added it had several rockets "ready to be used at any time to target enemy bases, especially its embassy," referring to the US embassy in Baghdad, the largest in the world and located inside the heavily fortified Green Zone that houses government ministries and many other embassies.
Nearly a year ago, the then top US military commander in Baghdad said that Ketaib Hezbollah had received specialist training in Iran to help mount an attack on American military bases in Iraq.
Ray Odierno, who has recently been nominated by US President Barack Obama as his Army Chief of Staff, said in July last year that the Shiite insurgents had returned to Iraq after training in Iran, but it was not clear if the Iranian government was involved.
Washington accuses Iran of backing several Shiite insurgent groups in Iraq, which Tehran denies.
The number of US soldiers killed in Monday`s attack was the largest in a single day in more than two years.
Most US troops pulled out of Iraq after the American military formally ended combat operations at the end of August last year. (*)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
