BAGHDAD (AP) - Aircraft fired missiles and dropped a bomb in a Shiite stronghold in northeastern Baghdad, killing six militants, the U.S. military said Saturday. Iraqi officials claimed a higher death toll, saying 18 civilians were killed.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, meanwhile, urged parliament to cancel its summer break or at least limit it to two weeks, expressing frustration over the failure to pass key legislation aimed at promoting reconciliation and stemming support for the violence.

In other violence, a minibus was struck in a mortar attack shortly after noon in the predominantly Shiite area of Baladiyat in eastern Baghdad, killing at least five people and wounding 11, police said. Mortar shells also slammed into the eastern outskirts of Baghdad, killing two people and wounding four, another officer said on condition of anonymity because of security concerns.

The U.S. military said that a roadside bomb killed a U.S. soldier in Diyala province on Friday, raising to at least 3,631 members of the U.S. military who have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

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