A car explosion that killed three coalition soldiers north-west of Baghdad was a suicide attack carried out by two Iraqi women, Iraq's official INA news agency said last night.
The explosion occurred on Thursday night at the checkpoint near Hadithah Dam, about 200 km north-west of Baghdad.
The news agency named the women as Nusha Mjalli al-Shammari and Widad Jamil al-Duleimi.
Later the Arab satellite television Al-Jazeera broadcast images of the two Iraqi women, but with their names slightly different, vowing to launch suicide attacks in the defence of their country.
"They blew up their car at the positions of the enemy in the west of the country on the night of April 3rd-4th.
"The martyr operation brought the destruction of nine armoured vehicles with their teams on board," INA said.
"I vow . . . to be a suicide bomber who will defend Iraq," said one of the women, named as Nur al-Shammari, who could be seen raising a rifle in the air, with her other hand placed on a Koran, the Muslim holy book.
Centcom did not call Thursday night's explosion a suicide bombing, but the circumstances were similar to those of a suicide attack at a checkpoint in southern Iraq March 29th that killed four US soldiers.
Iraq has frequently said that the "martyr operation" would be followed by others against US and British troops.
A pregnant Iraqi woman stepped out of the car as it approached the checkpoint andbegan "screaming in fear", US military officials at Central Command in Qatar said.
Moments later the car exploded, killing three soldiers as well as the pregnant woman and the driver. Two American soldiers were injured.
The incident happened close to the Haditha dam, north-west of Baghdad, which was taken by special forces to prevent it being destroyed by the regime.
Some US officials said it was a suicide attack, but it was unclear whether the woman and driver had been forced to take the car to the checkpoint.
Last Saturday a man posing as a taxi-driver apparently blew himself up in a car at a checkpoint near Najaf, killing four US soldiers.
Some reports citing Western intelligence have suggested the bomb was detonated by remote control and was not a suicide attack.
After that incident, commanders told soldiers to stand farther away from cars as they approached checkpoints.
On Monday US troops shot dead at least seven women and children when their car failed to stop as it approached a checkpoint near Najaf.
A US commander who led a push by marines through southern Iraq has been relieved of his post, US Central Command has confirmed. No reason has been given. Col Joe Dowdy was commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force Regimental Combat Team 1. He was reported to have led his men to within 130km of Baghdad.