BAGHDAD, Nov 27: Seven Iraqis, including three women and a child, were reported killed by US fire, as a suicide bomber disguised as a shepherd killed seven people on Tuesday in an attack on police, officials said.

The latest civilian deaths came as Iraqis began reassessing the role of the US military in their war-ravaged country and a day after Washington and Baghdad agreed to maintain American forces in Iraq beyond 2008.

Iraqi security officials said three women and a man were killed when the minibus in which they were travelling came under American military fire in Baghdad’s northeastern Al-Shaab neighbourhood.

The vehicle was carrying employees of Al-Rasheed bank and the gunfire wounded another two people — a woman and a man, they said.

A US military spokesman told AFP that US forces fired on a minibus in Baghdad “after the driver failed to heed a warning shot.” “The bus was travelling on a street that is off-limits to vehicles other than passenger cars,” the spokesman said.

“Initial reporting indicates that two passengers were killed and four wounded. The incident is under investigation.” In a separate statement, the US military said its troops opened fire on a car which tried to speed through a roadblock during an operation against Al Qaeda in Iraq on Monday, killing a child and two men.

Two men in a vehicle sped towards the checkpoint and ignored warnings to stop while troops were conducting the operation in Baiji, 200 kilometres north of Baghdad, the statement said.“The ground force fired warning shots, but the driver attempted to speed through the roadblock. Perceiving hostile intent, the ground force engaged, killing both men,” it said.

A wounded child was found inside the vehicle and transferred to a military medical facility where he died, it said.

According to the Iraqi Body Count website, which keeps an independent tally of Iraqi deaths, between 77,333 and 84,250 civilians have been killed since the US-led invasion of 2003.

Meanwhile, at least 13 people were killed on Tuesday in a spate of attacks north of Baghdad, security officials said.

In the deadliest attack, a suicide bomber disguised as a shepherd blew himself up in front of police headquarters in the central city of Baquba, killing seven people and wounding another seven, police said.

Police Captain Mohaned al-Bawi of Baquba police said the attacker was herding sheep past the main entrance of the police station when he detonated his explosive vest.

“He had sheep with him and looked like a shepherd,” Bawi said. “He detonated his explosives at the entrance when it was crowded with people.” Among the dead were three policemen and two women.

Baquba, northeast of Baghdad, is capital of restive Diyala province where Al Qaeda-linked militants frequently target the security forces, especially police, despite ongoing US and Iraqi military crackdowns.

US President George W. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki agreed on Monday that they would begin negotiations early next year on the terms of an American military presence in the country beyond 2008, officials said.

The two leaders signed a non-binding statement of principles for the talks, setting a July 31, 2008 target date to formalise US-Iraqi economic, political, and security relations.

Maliki announced in Baghdad on Monday that the accord sets 2008 as the final year for US-led forces to operate in Iraq under a UN mandate, which will be replaced by the new bilateral arrangement with Washington.

Iraqis on Tuesday blasted Maliki for signing the pact.

The hardline Sunni religious body, the Muslim Scholars Association, said the agreement gave the US a right to “kill, demolish and humiliate Iraqis.” “This will provoke our people who will look at those who signed as collaborators with the occupier,” said the association, which is allegedly linked to several anti-American Sunni insurgent groups.

Sunni lawmaker Dhafir al-Ani said the agreement gives “the US a chance to interfere in different aspects of (Iraqi) life.” Liwa Sumaysim, an MP from the political group of anti-American Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, insisted that Maliki stick to his pledge that parliament would have the final say on any deal reached with Washington.

“We have strong reservations on the pact, although it is a non-binding one. The Iraqi parliament must have the final word on it,” he said.—AFP