by Sam Dagher
BAGHDAD, Aug 3 (AFP) - Three US soldiers and an Iraqi police chief died in the latest violence sweeping Iraq as saboteurs blasted a oil pipeline which erupted in flames in the north of the country on Tuesday, halting limited exports via Turkey.
In Baghdad and Mosul, Christians mourned and prepared to bury their dead from devastating coordinated attacks on five churches on Sunday evening which killed at least 10 people and wounded around 50.
South of Baghdad, an Iraqi woman was killed and nine other people wounded, including six militiamen, in clashes on Monday night between US troops and loyalists of Moqtada Sadr outside the radical cleric`s Najaf home.
The US military announced the deaths of the three US soldiers in two statements on Tuesday.
"One marine assigned to 1st Marine Expeditionary force died of wounds received in action today in the Al-Anbar province while conducting security and stability operations," a statement said without elaborating.
Another statement said two soldiers were killed and two wounded after they were hit by a roadside bomb in Baghdad at about 11:00 pm (1900 GMT) on Monday.
Al-Anbar province includes the flashpoint Sunni Muslim cities of Fallujah and Ramadi. Marine posts in Fallujah, 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of Baghdad, are frequently attacked by insurgents with small arms, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.
The latest casualties bring to 682 the number of US troops killed in Iraq since last year`s invasion, according to a Pentagon tally.
In another bomb ambush in Baghdad, police chief Colonel Moyad Bashar al-Shamari was killed on Tuesday as he travelled to his office at the Mamoun police station. His car hit an improvised bomb near the Abu Jafaar al-Mansour Square.
"After I heard a loud explosion, I rushed outside and saw the damaged police car with three bloodied people inside," said Mohammed Abdulqader, a resident.
He said he helped drag the bodies out of the vehicle and flag down a civilian car that rushed them to the hospital, where Shamari died upon arrival.
In another blow to the country`s efforts to get back on its feet, oil exports through Iraq`s pipeline connecting the northern fields of Kirkuk with the Turkish port of Ceyhan came to halt Tuesday after a major attack, according to a Northern Oil Company official.
"An improvised explosive device was placed close to a network of pipelines at the level of Al-Fateha, west of Kirkuk, causing a big explosion and huge fires that damaged the main pipeline running to Ceyhan and stopped exports," Nasir Qassim, a logistics and security official with the state-owned company, told AFP.
He said the attack occurred at about 6:00 am (0200 GMT) and that fire fighters were still battling the raging flames.
Iraq only started at the end of June exporting limited quantities of crude through the pipeline, which was out of commission for about 10 months following a series of attacks and sabotage.
In Najaf, stronghold of Moqtada Sadr, a spokesman for the cleric lashed out at the US military on Tuesday.
He accused US troops of seeking to arrest the wanted cleric and to plunge Iraq`s Shiite cities back into chaos following a bloody standoff between Sadr`s militia and US-led troops earlier this year that left hundreds dead.
"This a brutal and provocative move that aims to plunge the peaceful holy city back into chaos and insecurity," Sheikh Ahmed al-Shaibani told AFP.
"US troops want to arrest Sadr because he represents the apex of the resistance against the occupation."
Shaibani accused US troops of provoking the one-hour battle on Monday night by surrounding Sadr`s home located in the city`s eastern Al-Zahra neighbourhood and firing at the guards standing there.
He said six militiamen were wounded in the clashes and taken to a private clinic in addition to the dead woman and three other injured people confirmed by the city`s Hakim hospital.
The US military denied that it surrounded Sadr`s home, saying marines who were on a patrol in the area were fired at by militiamen with small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades, prompting them to fire back.
The confrontation followed the arrest by multinational forces on Saturday of Sheikh Mithal al-Hasnawi, Sadr`s representative in Karbala, and is the most serious incident between US troops and Sadr`s militiamen since a truce in early June that ended the fighting.
The agreement at the time failed to address the issue of the arrest warrant against Sadr in connection with the murder of a rival cleric last year and the fate of his Mehdi Army militia.
Meanwhile, in Iraq`s continuing saga of hostage-taking, video footage posted on the Internet showed a group linked to alleged Al-Qaeda chief in Iraq, Abu Mussab Zarqawi, shooting a Turkish hostage in the head before he fell into a pool of blood.
A Turkish foreign ministry official identified the victim as Murat Yuce and said he had been kidnapped by the Tawhid wa al-Jihad (Unification and Holy War) group.
In response, a major Turkish truckers` organisation announced it was stopping transporting goods to US forces in Iraq.
More than one month since the handover of sovereignty to the caretaker government of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, Iraq has been plagued with car bombings, attacks against symbols of authority, and kidnappings of foreign workers and contractors perceived as aiding the US-led troops.