BAGHDAD, June 16: A blast rocked a Baghdad underpass on Monday injuring four Iraqis as the US military announced that seven soldiers had been wounded in two separate ambushes on military convoys north of the capital.

A taxi was passing through the tunnel beneath the central Tayaran Square when the explosion occurred. The driver, Sabah Shameel, 53, was taken to Baghdad’s al-Kindi hospital where doctors said they amputated part of a finger. Three passengers sustained minor injuries.

US troops, who were patrolling nearby, said the blast was deliberate but could not immediately confirm its cause.

The blast was apparently the latest in a spate of attacks which have targeted US troops in recent days as the US military launched a massive hearts and minds operation across northern and central Iraq to try to stem public hostility to its presence.

At least seven US soldiers were injured in two separate ambushes north of Baghdad on Sunday, coalition military spokesman Major Sean Gibson said. In the first attack 35 kilometres from the capital, six US soldiers were wounded, two of them seriously, said Gibson.

US Central Command said an “enemy individual” fired a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) at the convoy but hit a civilian bus. It was not immediately clear how many casualties there were on the bus or how the soldiers were injured.

In the second attack 50 kilometres from Baghdad, one US soldier was injured, the military spokesman said.

On Sunday Centcom announced the launch of Operation Desert Scorpion, a massive operation across northern and western Iraq aimed at rooting out anti-US guerrillas and stemming the resentment against the US-led occupation off which they have fed.

“This operation ... is designed to identify and defeat selected Baath Party loyalists, terrorist organizations and criminal elements while delivering humanitarian aid simultaneously,” said Centcom.

“Combat operations will be followed by synchronized stability and humanitarian operations designed to assist a transition to Iraqi self-rule. These include engineer and civil affairs initiatives to repair damaged infrastructure, support the growth of police forces and local government and improve the lives of Iraq’s citizens.”

The main focus of the operation was expected to be the tense Euphrates valley towns of Fallujah, Ramadi, Hit and Haditha northwest of Baghdad.

ACCIDENTAL DEATH: A US Marine has died of a “non-hostile gunshot wound” in Najaf, US Central Command said on Monday.

The wording of the statement suggests the Marine was killed either by friendly fire or by a bullet from his own weapon.—AFP