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TIKRIT, Aug 13: Three US soldiers were killed in Iraq on Wednesday and Tuesday night while two Iraqis were shot dead in gunbattles with the Americans.
One soldier died and another was wounded on Wednesday when their armoured personnel carrier drove over an improvised mine near Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit.
On Tuesday, US convoys were attacked by improvised explosives in Ramadi, a restive town west of Baghdad, and near the town of Taji, just north of the capital.
The Ramadi attack, which involved three synchronized bombs, killed one soldier of the Third Armored Division and wounded two. The blast near Taji killed one Fourth Infantry Division soldier and wounded two, US statements said.
Guerilla attacks have killed at least 60 American soldiers since Washington declared major combat over on May 1. A military spokesman said on Wednesday the official toll was being raised to include soldiers who died of their wounds after being evacuated from Iraq.
Officials said the US troops had killed two Iraqis in two gunbattles on Tuesday night.
In Rashidiya, just north of Baghdad, a man was shot dead after he fired on US troops from a van. Further north near Balad, attackers fired on a US reconnaissance team. Officials said one assailant was killed and the rest fled.
Washington says the attacks on US troops are being mounted by diehard Saddam loyalists and some foreign militants who have entered the country.
The commander of the battalion leading the hunt for Saddam loyalists and guerillas around Tikrit said one of the former president’s bodyguards and a senior general had been captured and were being questioned.
In an interview, the US governor of Iraq said American troops were not defenceless against guerilla attacks.
“The American soldiers here are not sitting ducks. Force protection is their first job and they do a very good job of it. It doesn’t mean you can eliminate casualties, you can’t,” Paul Bremer said in an interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America” show.
ELECTIONS NEXT YEAR: Mr Bremer said that once the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council set up a convention to draw up a new constitution for the country, it would take six to eight months to complete its work before general elections could be held.
“That’s the point at which the coalition’s authority here transitions to the Iraqis,” Mr Bremer said. “That doesn’t mean necessarily that’s when the troops go home.”
In outspoken criticism of Washington’s policy in Iraq, a senior UN official said the United States had bungled its “victory” since toppling Saddam and prominent Iraqis had warned of an uprising against the US-led forces.
“Many influential Iraqis who initially felt liberated from a despised regime have assured me that they will take up arms if the coalition troops do not arrive at a result. —Reuters
