BAGHDAD, Oct 13: Three US soldiers were killed and three others were injured in northern Iraq on Monday while two Iraqis, including a former Baathist, were killed in separate incidents in southern parts of the occupied country.

A US soldier was killed and another was injured after their Bradley vehcile hit a land mine near Beiji, some 220 kilometres north of Baghdad.

Another US soldier was killed in a rocket-propelled grenade attack in Tikrit. American Army confirmed that two other soldiers were injured in the attack.

Another US soldier was killed in Jalawla after a roadside bomb explosion and firefight there.

Tension also rose in Fallujah, where US forces arrested Sheikh Jamal Shaker Nazzal, 61, the prayer leader of the Great Mosque, a tribal chief and four Turkish nationals, according to witnesses.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi governor of the Diyala province escaped an assassination attempt after a roadside bomb exploded in Baqubah, wounding two policemen and a civilian, police said.

In a related incident, an Iraqi was killed and three others were wounded, including a policeman, in a firefight with US forces near Baqubah, a police officer said.

The shootout occurred after US troops arrested 20 people during a house-to-house search in the village of Zagenia, 15 kilometers north of Baqubah, he said.

In Najaf, a former Baathist — identified as Abu Zainab — was assasinated by two gunmen.

SUICIDES: The US army — already plagued by relatively high combat and non-combat fatalities — is worried about the “high rate” of suicide among its troops in Iraq, a report appearing in the USA Today said.