Attacks persist in spite of handover

A ROADSIDE bomb killed three US Marines and wounded two others yesterday in the first fatal attack on American forces since the transfer of sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government, US officials said.

The attack on the marines occurred at 10am in east Baghdad, the US command said in a statement.

Despite Monday's formal end of the occupation, about 160,000 soldiers mostly Americans remain in Iraq as a multinational force to help the new Iraqi government to restore order.

Monday's surprise transfer of sovereignty came two days early in an apparent attempt to foil the timing of expected attacks by anti-US insurgents intent on undermining the transfer.

There were no major attacks on Monday, but four US soldiers were wounded in a roadside bomb attack on their convoy in Tikrit, said Sharon Walker, a spokeswoman for the coalition military press centre in Baghdad.

Near midnight, four heavy explosions rang out in central Baghdad, close to the US-held Green Zone a near daily occurrence in the capital.

But the military said there were no injuries in the blasts, which were caused by mortar fire.

Early yesterday, gunmen attacked a police station in Mahmudiyah, 20 miles south of Baghdad, killing one officer and one civilian, said policeman Satar al-Ghareri.

In a separate attack, assailants opened fire yesterday on a US patrol in the Azimiya neighbourhood, a Sunni Muslim stronghold in north Baghdad. There were no US casualties, but one Iraqi civilian was killed, according to an Interior Ministry official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Also yesterday, a roadside bomb exploded as a senior Kurdish police official was heading to work, killing one of his guards and wounding him and two others, police said.

Major Ahmed al- Hamawandi, the head of police in the Kurdish district of Azadi in Kirkuk, suffered minor injuries in the attack that occurred about 8.50am, said police Colonel Sarhat Qader.

Sectarian tension has been on the rise in Kirkuk, a city that sits atop vast oil reserves, and Kurdish officials and police have been the frequent targets of attacks by gunmen.