An attack by a suicide car bomber near an American patrol in southern Baghdad killed two US soldiers and wounded four, an official said today.

A SUICIDE car bomb outside an Iraqi army recruitment centre and other attacks killed a dozen people and wounded more than 50 yesterday.

US military officials and representatives of rebel Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr held talks today aimed at reducing violence in the restive Baghdad slum of Sadr City, a day after clashes there killed 10 people, officials said.