New Iraq bomb attacks kill four

Iraqi forces at the scene of a bombing in Baghdad on Thursday

A suicide car bomber has killed a passer-by after detonating his device near a US patrol in the Karada district of Baghdad, police in Iraq say.

In two incidents on Wednesday, three American soldiers were killed.

Their convoys were hit by a roadside bomb in Baghdad and near Baqouba, officials reported on Thursday.

Military officials also say that US aircraft have continued air strikes on alleged insurgent safe houses near the Syrian border.

US officials say they have killed a senior al-Qaeda figure in Iraq who was using religious courts to try Iraqis who supported coalition forces.

Separately, the AFP news agency reports Iraqi police saying that the bodies of three Iraqis have been discovered near the town of Baqouba.

The three men, engineers who had been working at an Iraqi army base, had been kidnapped recently, police said.