Three US soldiers killed in Iraq, minister survives assassination

Attacks and explosions continued in Iraq during the past 24 hours, the most violent of which was an attack by a booby trapped car targeting the procession of the minister of higher education Sami al-Muzaffar in Aqaba Bin Nafe Square in Baghdad on Wednesday morning.

Al-Muzaafar escaped this attack which was claimed by the Mujahissen Shoura Council which is formed by al-Qaida organization in Iraq and other armed groups. Sources in the Iraqi ministry of interior said two of al-Muzaffar's guards were injured and one passerby civilian was killed.

Meantime, the American army announced on Wednesday evening that three of its soldiers were killed in two separate attacks in Anbar governorate and one non fighting incident in al-Qaem area near the border with Syria during the two past days.

The statement explained that one of the soldiers died because of wounds he had three days earlier as a result of a roadside bomb in Anbar while another was killed on Monday in a similar explosion in the same governorate. The American army indicated that a third soldier was killed on Tuesday in a traffic accident during military operations in al-Qaem area.

These developments coincide with the beginning of thousands of Shiite arrival in the city of Karabala to celebrate the assassination anniversary of Imam al-Hussein Bin Ali which falls today.

The Iraqi government had taken tough security measures in the city and its surrounding, in precaution of armed attacks targeting crowds of visitors.