Iraq bombs cause civilian deaths

A Baqouba minibus bore the brunt of a blast meant for police

Two Iraqi civilians have been killed and about 20 people were wounded in two separate bombings in the city of Baqouba and the capital, Baghdad.

The first death occurred when a police vehicle hit a roadside bomb, whose blast hit the civilian vehicle behind.

Later, a car bomb exploded near a US military convoy on the road leading to Baghdad airport. Ten civilian cars were wrecked and a civilian died.

Two US marines were killed in separate clashes in western Iraq.

The US military said the two belonged to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, which is based near the volatile town of Falluja.

Later on Tuesday, American troops launched forces launched raids into the slum district of eastern Baghdad known as Sadr City, a stronghold of supporters of the radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr.

Reports said the sound of helicopter gunships and heavy firing echoed through the district. There was no immediate word on casualties.

A US spokesman said the aim was to re-establish conditions for work to proceed on electricity, sewerage and rebuilding projects.

Insurgents opposing the US presence in Iraq carry out daily bomb and mortar attacks targeting the US military and Iraqi forces. The main victims of these attacks are often Iraqi civilian bystanders.

Clerics 'arrested'

US officials say the airport road is one of the most dangerous routes in the whole country. They said four US soldiers were also injured in the attack, one of them seriously.

Baqouba is a mixed Sunni-Shia town north of Baghdad that has seen repeated attacks by anti-US insurgents.

As well as the dead man, four women were injured in the minibus travelling behind the police vehicle, one of them critically.

Meanwhile, in the southern city of Najaf, supporters of Moqtada Sadr said two of his senior aides had been arrested in a raid on his main office.

The cleric's supporters said the arrests breached a peace deal that ended last month's fighting.