BAGHDAD, March 26: Bomb attacks killed five US soldiers in Iraq, the US military said on Monday amid reports that the outgoing US ambassador held talks last year with Sunni rebel groups in a bid to curb the country's raging insurgency.

Four of the Americans were killed in a roadside bombing on Sunday gainst their patrol in the troubled province of Diyala, where the chief US commander has said his troops are battling Al Qaeda, Sunni, Shia and even Kurdish renegades.

Two troops were also wounded in the attack, while another soldier died in northwestern Baghdad on the same day in another roadside bombing.

In Mosul, gunmen on Sunday killed Sunni tribal leader Mohammed Jassim al-Guud, a member of the Al-Ubada that is a significant Arab tribe in northern Iraq, said police Major Mohammed Ahmed.

Guud's son and nephew were also wounded after the insurgents sprayed his vehicle with gunshots in central Mosul late on Sunday, the policeman added.

A police major was similarly killed in a Mosul drive-by shooting on Monday while the bodies of two male civilians -- one beheaded and one riddled with bullets were found dumped in a western part of the city, Ahmed said.

In an interview with the New York Times published on Monday, Washington's ambassador in Baghdad, Zalmay Khalilzad, admitted for the first time to holding talks with presumed insurgent leaders in a bid to lure hardline Sunnis into mainstream politics.“There were discussions with the representatives of various groups in the aftermath of the elections, and during the formation of the government before the Samarra incident, and some discussions afterwards as well,” Khalilzad said.

The interview made him the first US official to publicly acknowledge personally holding such talks, which the newspaper said began in early 2006.

US embassy attacked: An American civilian and two other foreigners were wounded on Monday when the US embassy in Baghdad came under indirect fire, a US military spokesman said.

“There was an indirect fire attack that impacted near the embassy and one US civilian and two third country nationals were wounded. They're being treated,” Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Garver said.

They were hurt while in the vicinity of the embassy at the time of the attack, Garver said. He could not confirm whether the American or the other two people were embassy employees.

A second bout of indirect fire near the embassy took place later but caused no casualties. A US official said there was “no significant damage” to the embassy building.—AFP