Iraqi police in Beiji said US aircraft bombed a house last night and that seven people were killed and four injured, Capt Arkan Jassim said.

Suicide attackers carried out a string of car bombings against Iraqi policemen in Baghdad and Kurdish militiamen in the north, killing 14 people and wounding at least 59 today in the latest major assaults on Iraqi security forces and U.S. allies in the country.

Rockets slammed into a Baghdad hotel used by Western contractors today, shattering windows and blasting a swimming pool.

One soldier attached to the 3rd Armoured Cavalry Regiment was killed and another wounded when a roadside bomb exploded just west of Baghdad, the US military said.

A low-flying Iraqi missile has hit Kuwait City wrecking a seaside shopping mall.