Sisters killed in Iraq gun attack

The insurgency is targeting US-led forces - and those "collaborating" with them

Two Iraqi women employed at a laundry for the US-led coalition have been shot dead in the southern city of Basra.

A coalition official said the two sisters, employed by US company Kellogg Brown & Root, were in a taxi that was stopped by gunmen who then opened fire.

The shooting appears to be the latest in a string of attacks by suspected insurgents on Iraqis working with the US-led forces.

Meanwhile, a US soldier has been killed in a bomb attack in central Iraq.

The US military said the soldier was among three members of the 652nd Engineering Battalion injured by a home-made bomb in Baquba, north of Baghdad. He later died in hospital from his wounds.

The Associated Press news agency says his death brings to 554 the number of US military personnel who have died since the invasion of Iraq was launched almost a year ago.

Most have died since US President George W Bush declared an end to major combat operations on 1 May.

Baquba is in the so-called "Sunni triangle" area of central Iraq - a hotbed of resistance to the occupation.

FBI probes US deaths

Elsewhere, agents from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are investigating the killings of two American civilian employees of the coalition and their female Iraqi translator.

They were killed by gunmen who stopped their car in Hilla, south of Baghdad.

Polish troops who patrol the area arrested five Iraqis suspected of being the gunmen.

Initial reports said the suspects were disguised as police officers, but it now appears that they are serving officers in the Iraqi police.