Iraq gunmen kill three US servicemen

Iraq gunmen killed three US servicemen, one in the capital and two in the south of the country, the US command said today.

Two Marines from the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit were killed yesterday “as a result of enemy action” in Najaf province, south of the capital, the military said in a statement.

In western Baghdad, an insurgent fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a patrolling US vehicle, killing one soldier, the military said.

The names of those killed were withheld pending notification of next of kin.

The latest deaths brought the total number of US service members who have died since the beginning of military operation in Iraq in March 2003 to 925.

The deaths came amid two days of fighting that erupted on Thursday between US forces and supporters of militant Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr that marked some of the worst violence in Iraq in months.