BASRA, Feb 5: Guerillas killed four Iraqi soldiers in a motorcycle bomb in Basra on Saturday, as violence elsewhere also left another seven Iraqis and two US troops dead. "The booby-trapped motorbike exploded as the patrol passed by. Four soldiers were killed and their vehicle destroyed," captain Farid al Tamimi said.

The attack took place behind the general hospital in the Hay al Rissala neighbourhood, in the centre of Basra, which is the country's second largest city.

Two children were killed when a landmine exploded in the restive city of Samarra, north of Baghdad.

Two Iraqi soldiers were also killed in a roadside bomb attack in the same city, which US-led troops had raided in October in a bid to clean it of guerillas.

Another soldier and a civilian were killed during clashes between Iraqi security forces and guerillas in Samarra.

In the nearby troublespot of Dhuluiya, a soldier was killed and four civilians wounded in clashes.

The US military also announced on Saturday that two soldiers were killed a day earlier in a similar attack near Baiji, further north.

The deaths raise to 1,441 the number of US military personnel whose lives have been lost in Iraq since Washington invaded in March 2003. -AFP