Hussein Mohammed, a lecturer in the university's French language department, said classes were canceled for two days while workers cleared the debris. "We are trying to heal our wounds and start again," he said.

The Iraqi parliament stood for a moment of silence and lawmakers and students demanded stepped-up security for schools and universities.

Al-Maliki announced the new security drive Jan. 6, four days before President Bush detailed his version of the plan with an announcement that he was sending 21,500 more US troops to Iraq.

There have been concerns that insurgents would just slip out of the capital to wait out the offensive. Some appear to have left, given the spike in violence in northern Iraq, where Sunni militants have retreated in the past.

On Wednesday, a suicide car bombing at a police checkpoint in oil-rich Kirkuk, 180 miles north of Baghdad, killed 10 people and wounded dozens.

In all, police reported 70 people killed or found dead in Iraq on Wednesday. They included 31 bullet-riddled bodies that turned up in Baghdad showing signs of torture, victims of apparent death squads largely run by Shiite militias like the Mahdi Army, which has its stronghold in Sadr City.

The US military also said two more American soldiers died - one Wednesday after suffering wounds during an operation in the Sunni stronghold of Anbar province west of Baghdad and another who died there Monday.

Al-Maliki, meanwhile, met with the ambassadors of several countries, including the United States, to shore up support for his planned security operation. He pledged to act equally against all gunmen, regardless of sect, his spokesman said. The Shiite prime minister is under heavy criticism over his interference in US attempts to confront Shiite militias during two failed attempts to bring calm to Baghdad.

"We want the international community to understand that the Baghdad security plan is targeting all the outlaws, it does not target a specific group or specific area, rather it targets all Baghdad," said Ali al-Dabbagh, the spokesman.

Throughout the Middle East, Arab leaders were deeply skeptical of the US plan for Iraq, a day after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice tried to sell it to them. Kuwait's emir told Rice that America should work with Iran and Syria, officials said - a move Bush has rejected.

The National Democratic Institute, the group whose convoy was attacked Wednesday, supports democratic processes and institutions worldwide. Its staffers in Baghdad run training programs in democracy and political participation, as well as women's rights. The group has had staffers in Iraq since June 2003, though Campbell would not specify how many, for security reasons.

Kenneth Wollack, president of the organization, said in his Washington office that "this is a tragedy that has hit individuals that have been dedicated to the democratic future of Iraq."

The American woman was the first full-time worker for the group to be killed in Iraq. A security contractor for the organization was killed in March 2004.

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