BAGHDAD, May 26: At least 10 people were killed in violence in Baghdad on Thursday, three of them civilians allegedly shot by US troops, as Al Qaeda’s Iraq branch denied it had named an acting chief for its wounded leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi. US lawmakers, meanwhile, rejected an attempt to force on the Bush administration a timetable for withdrawing American troops from the violence-wracked country.

“American forces opened fire on a minibus in the Dura district, in southern Baghdad, killing three people and wounding four others,” said a defence ministry source.

“There was an incident. There was a bus that was shot at in southeast Baghdad but I can’t say what time. The details are sketchy and we don’t know who was involved,” said US military spokesman Lieutenant Jamie Davis. A car bombing and drive-by shooting killed two policemen, a civilian, a university lecturer and his three bodyguards.—AFP