Six Marines killed in Iraq bomb attacks

BOMB blasts killed six US Marines in western Iraq yesterday and US forces killed 29 militants in offensives aimed at uprooting al-Qaida insurgents ahead of the country’s vote on a new constitution.

The American deaths brought to 1,950 the number of US troops who have died since the beginning of the war in 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

In southern Iraq, British troops detained 12 militia men loyal to a radical Shi'ite cleric in the city of Basra, accusing them of carrying out recent attacks on British and US troops, amid charges Iran is helping fighters to carry out deadlier bombings.