US soldiers killed in mortar attack

Three US soldiers in Iraq have been killed and 13 injured in guerrilla attacks, it was announced today.

Two military police officers died in a mortar attack about 10pm local time yesterday on a US base near the Abu Ghraib prison on the western outskirts of Baghdad.

Thirteen officers were injured in the attack. No prisoners were hurt.

Shortly before the Abu Ghraib shelling, a soldier was killed when his Humvee vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb near Ramadi, about 60 miles west of Baghdad.

The deaths brought to 165 the number of US soldiers who have died in Iraq since May 1 when President George Bush declared major fighting was over. During the heavy fighting before then 138 soldiers died.