19 Iraqis, GI killed in attacks

In Tikrit early Sunday, Mahamud Daham Bidewi, an assistant to the city's chief of staff during Saddam's regime, was killed when rebels fired a rocket at his home, while separately a police captain was shot dead by gunmen in the northern oil refinery town of Baiji, police said.

Elsewhere 10 Iraqis were killed and two others wounded by a roadside bomb in Eskandiriyah town, 65km south of Baghdad, a police officer from Hilla said.

In a separate attack, a suicide car bomber blew himself up by an Iraqi army patrol, killing four Iraqi soldiers, near Saddam's native village of Ojah, located 180 kilometers north of Baghdad.

Six other soldiers were wounded in the attack, said Khaled al-Jabouri, a police officer from Tikrit city.

He said the US forces helped evacuate the casualties.

US troops killed three suspected insurgents wearing Iraqi police uniforms Sunday in the northern city of Kirkuk, the military said.

The US military also announced the death of an American soldier in roadside blast in Baghdad.

US spokesman Maj. Jeff Allen said a gun battle broke out at a checkpoint in Kirkuk, 290km north of Baghdad, and three men wearing Iraqi police uniforms inside a car were shot dead.