Iraqi civilian killed in bomb attack

Rebels detonated a roadside bomb as a US convoy drove by in central Baghdad today, killing one Iraqi and wounding another, police said.

No US troops were injured, police Maj. Khatan Jabir said.

A US military Humvee was parked askew in the middle of the road shortly after the blast in the densely populated Karrada neighbourhood.

The explosion cracked windows in the street lined with shops selling vegetables and groceries. People nearby said the dead man worked in a nearby shop.

“They’ve not killed any Americans, just Iraqis as usual. We consider it terrorism,” shopkeeper Karim Abbas said bitterly.

Earlier, US troops said they detained three former army and intelligence officers suspected of conducting anti-American attacks in a raid in Baqouba, north of Baghdad.

Soldiers blew up the entrance to the house to surprise the occupants.

“We had a report of a terrorist cell which has been conducting terrorist attacks on coalition forces,” David Wicklund, of the Military Police, said. “We came here in the early morning hours and caught them while there were sleeping.”

The men appeared to be middle-level officials of the former regime, with the highest ranking a major.

Meanwhile, the US military said American soldiers killed three suspected Ansar al-Islam militants during a firefight in the northern city of Mosul. Two US soldiers were wounded, the military said.