Iraqi soldiers killed in bomb attacks

Iraq: Suicide car-bombers mounted two attacks on Iraqi soldiers in northern Iraq yesterday, killing at least seven people.

Iraq: Suicide car-bombers mounted two attacks on Iraqi soldiers in northern Iraq yesterday, killing at least seven people.

In one attack, a suicide bomber blew up his car at an Iraqi army checkpoint in Suleiman Beik, 95 km south of the city of Kirkuk, killing three Iraqi soldiers and two civilians, a captain in the Iraqi military aid.

In the town of Samarra, a stronghold of Sunni Arab insurgents 100 km north of Baghdad, a car-bomber detonated his vehicle beside an army patrol, killing at least two Iraqi soldiers, local officials said. Al-Qaeda's wing in Iraq claimed responsibility in an internet statement.

Also in northern Iraq, a US soldier was killed in action near the town of Hawija, the American military said.

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On Wednesday, a US soldier was shot dead in Baghdad, another was killed by gunmen in Mosul and a Marine was killed in western Iraq when his vehicle hit a landmine.

In the latest foreign hostage crisis, three Romanian journalists and their translator, who holds Iraqi, American and Romanian citizenship, were abducted this week in Baghdad. Insurgents released a video showing them being held at gunpoint.

Bulgaria said yesterday it would propose to parliament a cut in its troop numbers in Iraq to 400 in June and a full withdrawal by the year's end.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said last night the first 300 of its more than 3,000 troops would be pulled out of Iraq in September.

Mr Berlusconi first announced earlier this month he planned to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq in September. But he later appeared to backtrack, saying there was no fixed date for any pull-out.