Two United States marines were killed in combat and a soldier died in a vehicle accident in Iraq, the military said in a statement today.

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 insurgents blew up an oil pipeline and fired on gasoline storage tanks, as US troops searched for rebels and weapons in strongholds of captured dictator Saddam Hussein.

US troops rounded up suspected rebels today during house-to-house searches in strongholds of Saddam Hussein, capitalising on intelligence gleaned from the capture of the former Iraqi dictator.