BAGHDAD, March 9: Police found the bodies of 41 Iraqis beheaded or shot by insurgents at two locations in the Sunni heartland, the latest in a series of mass killings by Militant groups, officials said on Wednesday.

In Baghdad, gunmen opened fire on the planning minister's convoy, police said. Minister Mehdi al-Hafidh was unharmed but one of his bodyguards was killed in the ambush.

In another attack in the capital, a suicide bomber detonated a garbage truck packed with explosives outside a hotel used by Iraqi police and foreign contractors, killing two policemen.

The US embassy said 30 US contractors were among 40 people wounded in the blast, which shook central Baghdad, blew a huge crater in the road and shattered windows in a wide radius. The Agriculture Ministry, next to the Sadir Hotel targeted in the attack, suffered extensive damage.

Al Qaeda's wing in Iraq, led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, said it was behind the bombing - part of its campaign to bring down the government and drive out US troops.

In an Internet statement, Zarqawi's group said gunmen had opened fire on police to allow a suicide bomber to attack the hotel - which it described as "the hotel of the Jews".

"The mujahideen opened fire on the police and guards protecting the Jews and when the entrance was clear, the hero ... blew up the infidels," the group said, adding that the attack was timed to avoid harming any Muslim passers-by. In a separate attack in Baghdad, a roadside bomb killed a US soldier on Wednesday and wounded another, the military said.

BODIES FOUND: In Qaim area, 500 km west of Baghdad, the bodies of 26 people, including one woman, were found. A doctor said the victims, in civilian clothes, had been shot two days ago.