A suicide bomber blew up his car outside a hospital south of Baghdad today as US troops were handing out food to children, killing 30 people and injuring about 40, including four Americans.

Two US soldiers were killed by gunfire during combat operations in south-west Baghdad, the U.S. military said today.

Four US soldiers were killed today when a suicide car bomber attacked their checkpoint south of Baghdad, the US military reported.

Capping the bloodiest month for American troops since January, the US military reported that seven more US service members were killed – all victims of increasingly sophisticated bombs that have been become the deadliest weapon in the insurgents’ arsenal.

THE US military said six American soldiers were killed in two bombings yesterday, making October one of the deadliest months for US troops in Iraq this year.

Three US soldiers were killed in action in clashes in Baghdad and a city south of the capital, the US military said today.

THE US Army said five of its soldiers were killed by roadside bombs in two separate incidents in Baghdad.

Roadside bombs killed two American soldiers in northern Baghdad and ignited a train carrying fuel in the south of Iraq’s capital, killing two Iraqis and wounding six others, officials said today.

A company of the California Army National Guard has been placed on restricted duty amid allegations that members of the unit mistreated detainees in Iraq, US military officials said.

A suicide car bomber drove up to a US vehicle crowded with Iraqi children and detonated his vehicle today, killing one American soldier and at least seven Iraqi children, the US military said.

A suicide car bomber detonated his vehicle today near a US vehicle in eastern Baghdad, killing one American soldier and at least seven Iraqi children, the US military said.

A US soldier has died of injuries he sustained when his patrol struck a land mine south of Baghdad, the US military said today.

A roadside bomb struck a US military convoy this morning in eastern Baghdad, wounding two soldiers.

Gunmen killed an aide to Iraq’s most influential Shiite cleric and two bodyguards in a drive-by shooting outside a Baghdad mosque today – an attack likely to stoke tensions between the Shiite majority and the Sunni minority, officials said.

A fire erupted today in a transformer room that feeds electricity to a main water plant near Baghdad, shutting it down completely and leaving millions of residents in the Iraqi capital without water.

A STRING of suicide attacks aimed at Iraqi security forces killed at least 36 people and wounded 19 more in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul yesterday, the US military and police officials said.

A US soldier was killed when his patrol unit struck a roadside bomb in east Baghdad today the US military said.

THE Iraqi parliament yesterday picked Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani as the country's new interim president yesterday.

Three US soldiers have been killed today when a roadside bomb exploded in western Baghdad, military officials said.

Insurgents staged attacks against US forces, schools to be used as polling stations and political party offices today, as they pressed a bloody campaign to undermine Iraq’s weekend elections.

Dusan Stojanovic, Baghdad

US troops opened fire near a police checkpoint south of Baghdad after their convoy was hit by a roadside bomb. A hospital official said yesterday that at least eight people were killed in the second American attack in two days.

American troops opened fire after their convoy was struck by a roadside bomb at a checkpoint south of Baghdad, killing at least two policemen and three civilians, police said today.

A roadside bomb killed seven US soldiers in north-west Baghdad and two Marines were killed in western Iraq, the deadliest day for American forces since a suicide attack on a US base last month.

A suicide bomber blew up a car at a police checkpoint in western Iraq today, killing seven government security force members and injuring nine.

A US soldier has been charged in connection with wrongful killing of Iraqis, the US military said today.

Two soldiers from Task Force Baghdad were killed and five wounded today in a rocket attack in southern Baghdad.

Two American soldiers were killed and three others wounded when they came under attack from an improvised explosive device and small arms fire in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, the military said today.

Five US soldiers were killed and five wounded in a blast in east Baghdad today.

Two Iraqi civilians and one American soldier were killed in attacks in Baghdad, the United States military said today.