Iraqi militants shot dead an American soldier they have held hostage for nearly three months, saying he was killed because the US government did not change its policy in Iraq, Al-Jazeera television said today.

An oil pipeline near the northern city of Kirkuk was on fire today and local officials said the blaze may have been caused by sabotage. In Mosul, US troops opened fire after an explosion near a military convoy, witnesses said.

TWO American soldiers were shot dead while waiting in traffic in Mosul yesterday, a day after suicide bombers killed up to 20 people in attacks on two police stations northeast of Baghdad.

Gunmen killed two American soldiers today while they were driving through the northern Iraqi city of Mosul and a crowd swarmed over the scene, looting the vehicle and pummelling the bodies, witnesses said.

A civilian contractor working in Iraq was killed today when guerillas fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a US convoy in Tikrit.