FOUR American and four Italian military personnel were killed in separate aircraft crashes, military officials said yesterday, as Iraq’s prime minister condemned the arrest of a top Sunni political leader by US troops.

Separate air crashes killed four American and four Italian troops, officials said today, and the governor of Anbar province was killed during clashes between US forces and the insurgents who abducted him three weeks ago.

IRAQI security forces launched a high-profile crackdown targeting terrorists in Baghdad yesterday as insurgents hit back with suicide bombings and ambushes that killed at least 17 people.

Iraqi security forces launched a high-profile crackdown targeting terrorists in Baghdad today as insurgents hit back with suicide bombings and ambushes that killed at least 17 people.

Bassem Mroue, Baghdad

At least eight Iraqis were found shot near a Baghdad dam and a slain Iraqi Kurd was left in a garbage dump in northern Iraq, police said today, raising the number of bodies recovered in the past 48 hours to 45.

In another attack targeting Iraqi security forces, a suicide car bomb destroyed a police minibus at a checkpoint in Saddam Hussein’s hometown today, killing at least eight policemen, officials said.

A car bomb exploded in an upscale shopping district of Baghdad today, killing at least six Iraqis and setting fire to an apartment building, in a surge of violence that has left at least 127 people dead since a new government was formed last week. A British soldier died in fighting in southern Iraq.