Four US soldiers have been killed in a series of violent incidents over the last two days. An Iraqi tribal chief was shot dead in the northern city of Mosul, and Baghdad residents stared in disbelief at a car split in half by a bomb explosion that killed two Iraqis inside.
A roadside bomb killed one US soldier and wounded another when it exploded by a convoy near Baquba, about 65 km north of Baghdad, early today. A second soldier was killed trying to defuse a bomb outside the town accordin to a US spokesman.
Two US soldiers were killed in a mortar attack on a US camp near Baquba yesterday.
Guerrillas also wounded two Polish soldiers in an ambush in southern Iraq, the latest of several attacks on the forces of countries which have answered Washington's call for troops to help it secure the country after the war to topple Saddam.
Violence also claimed the lives of more Iraqis seen as cooperating with the American-led occupation.
Gunmen killed a tribal chief who sat on the US-appointed local council in the northern city of Mosul.
Sheikh Talal al-Khalidi's son was also killed in the incident, which follows a spate of attacks in Mosul on Iraqis working under the US-led administration ruling the country.
A grenade was thrown at Iraqi policemen, wounding one of them, when they arrived to investigate the slaying, police said.
In Baghdad, two Iraqis were killed when a bomb exploded on a road near the airport, witnesses said. It was not clear whether the device had been inside the car or had been planted outside.
The US military said it had arrested 66 people in a night swoop in Baghdad, including a major-general with links to Saddam and 20 other "significant" figures.