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Three roadside bombings kill four in Iraq

Guerrilla bombings targeting US and Iraqi forces killed at least four people yesterday as insurgents appeared to rebound after a lull in violence.

A roadside bomb near the northern city of Samarra killed two Iraqi soldiers, an army source said.

Militants exploded three roadside bombs in Baghdad, killing at least one civilian and wounding eight others, officials said of the latest in a string of deadly attacks across the Iraqi capital.

One bomb exploded near a US convoy at 9:30am in the western Mansour district, witnesses said. One damaged Humvee could be scene in the area, which was sealed off by US forces.

At least five civilians were injured in the blast, said Ihssan Abdul Razaq, an official at the Yarmouk Hospital where rescue workers brought the wounded.

Another jerry-rigged device exploded in an eastern neighborhood where US forces were also on patrol, killing one civilian and wounding three others, said a police official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

A third blast didn't appear to cause any injuries, said Captain Talib Thamir. The US military confirmed the trio of attacks, but had no further information.

Pakistan yesterday urged kidnappers in Iraq to release a Pakistani embassy official who disappeared outside his Baghdad home, as Al-Jazeera satellite TV aired a video that claimed to show the man.

Al-Jazeera did not air audio of the tape, but said the man identified himself as Malik Mohammed Javed, who was abducted last Saturday as he left his home to attend prayers at a mosque.

"We again appeal to Javed's kidnappers to free him in the name of Islam," Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Amhed said yesterday.

"We appeal to them not to harm him because his aged parents and other family members have already suffered a lot," the minister said.

A US Marine died when an insurgent mortar round landed inside a military base in western Iraq, the military said yesterday.

The Marine, assigned to the 2nd Marine Division, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force, died after a Wednesday attack at Camp Hit, in Anbar province, the military said.

A main Baghdad market went up in flames late Thursday, but officials said yesterday they didn't believe foul play was behind the inferno that engulfed the market.

"Preliminary investigations indicate that the fire was not caused by arson," Interior Ministry Captain Ahmed Ismael said. "More investigations are underway.

Reports of daily gunbattles and explosions had died down in the middle of last month, and the Iraqi and US governments declared the lull a sign that their fighters were winning the battle against the insurgency. But this month militants have stepped up assaults.

The bloodshed increased pressure on Iraqi leaders, who have been squabbling over the formation of a new government during a lull in attacks since the Jan. 30 polls. The key interior, oil and defense ministers have yet to be chosen.
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