Two US soldiers and three Iraqis were killed in separate bomb attacks today, a day after UN security experts arrived in the capital to study the possible return of its international staff.

Three Iraqis were killed when a truck bomb exploded soon after a US patrol passed by as two UN security experts arrived in the Iraqi capital Baghdad to study the possible return of international staff.

A truck exploded today behind a US military police patrol in the central Iraqi city of Samarra, killing two Iraqis and injuring 40 other people, including seven American soldiers who received slight wounds from flying glass, the US military said.