Iraq blast near shrine kills five

Shias with self-inflicted wounds have been mourning a 7th-Century martyr

Five people, including two Iraqi soldiers, have been killed in a suicide bomb attack in northern Iraq.

The blast occurred outside the town of Tuz Khurmatuat at a checkpoint set up near a Shia shrine being visited by Turkoman Shias for a festival.

A car bomb has also killed at least three people in the town of Samarra.

The attacks come as al-Jazeera showed a video of three Romanian journalists taken hostage in Baghdad this week.

The television network said the hostages were being held by an unidentified group and that no demands had been issued.

The video shows the three kidnapped Romanian journalists and a fourth unidentified person.

Taxi 'exploded'

The attack in Samarra took place as a joint US-Iraqi military patrol was passing.

A suicide bomber drove into a US Humvee in the city centre, police official Qassim Omar told AP news agency.

The hostages were taken this week in Baghdad

Gunmen also reportedly attacked a police station with rocket-propelled grenades.

US officials have announced that two US soldiers died in other attacks on Wednesday.

One soldier died from injuries he sustained during a clash which erupted as he and other soldiers carried out a check on a taxi in Mosul, the US military said.

The taxi's passengers had fired at the soldiers and they had fired back, leading the taxi to explode.

Officials say they believe the vehicle contained explosives.

Another soldier was killed when his convoy was fired upon in Baghdad, US officials said.