Murdered soldiers beaten with concrete blocks

Gunmen killed two American soldiers today while they were driving through the northern Iraqi city of Mosul and a crowd swarmed over the scene, looting the vehicle and pummelling the bodies, witnesses said.

Elsewhere, another US soldier was killed in a roadside bombing north of Baghdad, and three American civilian contractors were injured in an explosion in the northern oil centre Kirkuk. Initial reports said the blast was due to a mortar, but Lt. Col. Matt Croke said officials later concluded it was a bomb.