Iraqi security officials say a suicide car bomber has struck a neighborhood patrol unit in Baghdad, killing two people and wounding eight.

The attack occurred Saturday in the Amariya neighborhood in western Baghdad.

Separately, the U.S. military says coalition forces killed eight al-Qaida in Iraq fighters and detained 17 suspects in operations targeting associates of terrorist leaders in central Iraq.

Iraqi, US Army troops board helicopter after joint patrol mission some 50 kilometers south of Baghdad, 26 Apr 2008

A statement says the operations were conducted Saturday near Baghdad and the towns of Tikrit, Samarra, Balad and Yusufiyah.

On Friday, a U.N. official said Iraqi militias are recruiting children to kidnap, kill and serve as suicide bombers.

The U.N. special representative for children and armed conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy, said only 50 percent of Iraq's primary school-age children are in school. She said increasing numbers of children are being recruited to work for insurgent groups, where they become what she called the "silent victims of the continued violence."

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.