70.000 civilians have been killed in Iraq since the invasion began

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Person injured in an attack in Iraq

More than 70,000 civilians and 4,000 soldiers have been killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion began in March 2003.

A suicide truck bomber targeted a police agency in northern Iraq on Wednesday, killing at least 19 people and wounding 26, police and hospital officials said. The attack occurred just before noon in Beiji, 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Baghdad, and many of the casualties were civilians, according to the officials.

Iraqi police and soldiers have frequently been targeted by militants seeking to disrupt U.S.-led efforts to enable the forces to take over their own security so foreign troops can go home.

Police said nine policemen and 10 civilians were killed, while 21 civilians and five officers were wounded. A roadside bomb also targeted a police patrol in the center of Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown some 130 kilometers (80 miles) north of Baghdad, killing one officer and wounding another, along with two civilians, authorities said.

Fourteen U.S. soldiers were killed when their helicopter crashed in northern Iraq on Wednesday, the U.S. military said, in one of the worst incidents of its kind in the four-year war. The military said in a statement that initial indications suggested the Black Hawk helicopter had suffered mechanical failure.

The crash was the worst since January 2005, when 31 service personnel were killed when a Marine transport helicopter was downed. More than 4,000 soldiers and 70,000 civilians have been killed since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003.