IRAQ: A suicide bomber killed a US soldier, an American contractor and four Iraqi security guards in Baquba 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad yesterday, the US military said in a statement. The attack wounded nine US soldiers, four Iraqi police officers and six Iraqi civilians.
Meanwhile, three car bombs exploded near US forces in Ramadi, 110 km (70 miles) west of Baghdad, in an apparently co-ordinated strike police and witnesses said.
They said a car blew up next to a US convoy, damaging a vehicle and wounding three bystanders. A suicide truck bomber rammed a building often used by US troops, bringing down part of the structure. As reinforcements arrived, a third bomb concealed in a car parked near a mosque went off.
Two policemen were killed and another wounded during a raid on Haydariya, 30 km (20 miles) north of Najaf and a policeman was killed when gunmen burst into his house in the Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad, a relative of the policeman said. - (Reuters)