American troops have detained a senior commander of Iraq’s former Republican Guard, US forces said today.

An Iraqi guardsman, three civilians and five US soldiers were killed when insurgents detonated a car bomb and levelled a military headquarters in the city of Samarra with a massive mortar barrage, the military said.

Insurgents launched a series of attacks in the so-called Sunni triangle area of Iraq, killing at least 19 people, including one US soldier, and wounding 16 others.