Iraq attacks cause fresh carnage

Samarra officials described the attack as an act of sabotage

Five US soldiers have been killed and several others wounded in two separate attacks in Iraq, US officials say.

An earlier attack in another town in the restive Sunni triangle area left four Iraqis dead and dozens injured, including US soldiers.

In one attack in Khaldiya, west of Baghdad, an improvised car bomb killed three soldiers at a US checkpoint.

The other two died when a roadside bomb detonated as their convoy drove near the flashpoint town of Falluja.

Witnesses in Khaldiya told Reuters news agency that a car rammed the American military checkpoint and exploded as a number of soldiers were getting out of a vehicle.

"Three Task Force All-American soldiers were killed and six were wounded when a vehicle based improvised explosive device detonated at 1615 this afternoon," a US military spokesman said.

The earlier blast in Falluja appeared to have been caused by a homemade device at the side of the road, US officials said.

The death toll for US military personnel has now reached 512 since the start of the war in March.

Crowded

In Samarra, where the four Iraqis died, witnesses said the town centre was crowded when the explosion - thought to have been caused by a remote-controlled bomb - occurred in an area where both the main police station and town council offices are located.

Iraqi and US officials say at least 33 people were injured - including some US soldiers - by the blast, which threw a vehicle in the air and left a deep crater.

According to a US military spokesman, it happened as an American patrol was turning in to the police station, but there is also speculation that the target might have been members of the local council who were due to meet at that time, says the BBC's Mike Wooldridge in Baghdad.

A Samarra police official described the incident as sabotage aimed at terrorising people and spreading chaos.