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Iraq

3 deaths push U.S. total past 1,500

BAGHDAD - The U.S. military on Thursday announced that three American soldiers were killed in action the day before, pushing the number of U.S. military deaths since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 to 1,502, according to an Associated Press count.

The military said two soldiers were mortally wounded when a roadside bomb struck their vehicle in Baghdad. Another soldier was killed in Babil province.

At least 1,140 Americans, including four civilians working for the military, have died from hostile action, according to the Defense Department. The other deaths are from noncombat causes.

Car bombs killed six policemen and wounded 15 in new attacks on Iraq's security services Thursday as political factions wrangled over putting together a government.

The Shiite Muslim-dominated United Iraqi Alliance and a Kurdish coalition, which emerged from the Jan. 30 elections with the two biggest blocks of seats in the National Assembly, made little headway in their talks on combining forces to select the leaders of the new government.

Meanwhile, interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, whose party finished third, denied rumors he had given up his effort to stitch together support from other groups, including the Kurds, that would allow him to remain prime minister.

Forming Iraq's first democratically elected government is a key step in the U.S. plan for stabilizing the country, and insurgents have been striking at Iraqi police and military forces seeking to undermine the effort.

Two suicide car bombs exploded outside the Interior Ministry in eastern Baghdad and killed at least five policemen and wounded nine, the defense ministry reported.

Another car bomb targeted a police convoy in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of the capital, and killed one Iraqi policeman and a civilian, the U.S. military said. Six officers and 10 civilians were injured.

"I spent eight years in the war against Iran. Now wars are over, but they have turned the violence against Iraqis," said Mohammed Salah Aldin, 48, the owner of an electronics shop in Baghdad. "I'm wondering, hasn't the time come to let the Iraqis live in peace?"

Samih Salim, 26, who works in a supermarket in Baghdad, said: "If the resistance can do all this, why don't they target the American troops, who are easily recognizable?"

In the north, insurgents blew up a natural gas pipeline between Kirkuk and Dibis, about 20 miles away. Officials said the blast would reduce gas production, but could not immediately say by how much.

Violence that has killed hundreds of people the past three weeks led Allawi to extend a state of emergency until the end of March. First announced nearly four months ago, the order affects all of Iraq except Kurdish-run areas in the north.

The decree includes a nighttime curfew and gives the government extra powers to make arrests without warrants and launch police and military operations when it deems necessary.

Information from the Washington Post was used in this report.

[Last modified March 4, 2005, 00:32:04]