Sunni extremists seized control of a remote village north-east of Baghdad in a fierce battle with residents who pleaded for rescue by Iraqi army and police as they tried to defend their homes, the deputy provincial governor said today.

A ROADSIDE bomb killed three US soldiers south of Baghdad yesterday and coalition forces shot to death three insurgents in Samarra — the site of the bombing of a Shi’ite shrine in February that set off a wave of sectarian killings in Iraq.