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Three U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq blast

Police officer shot to death in Baghdad

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Shiites protest what they call the "forced displacement" from homes by Sunnis at a rally Friday in Baghdad.

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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Insurgents killed three U.S. soldiers Friday south of Baghdad and a police officer in the Iraqi capital, and authorities found five slain bodies around the city, the U.S. military and Iraqi police said.

The three soldiers died when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb in Babil province, a military statement said.

Eleven American troops have died in the first five days of the month in Iraq -- all but one in hostilities.

The figures were compiled from Pentagon news releases. Other reported deaths this week include:

  • Three soldiers died in roadside bombings -- one Monday south of Baghdad and two Thursday in the capital.
  • Three Marines were killed in combat in Anbar province in separate incidents Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.
  • An Army National Guardsman died Wednesday in Tammin, also in Anbar, when a suicide bomber in a vehicle detonated a bomb.
  • A soldier died Wednesday in a noncombat-related incident.
  • In the wake of the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, 2,415 U.S. military troops and civilians have been killed in the Iraq war.

    In other violence Friday, gunmen shot dead a police officer, Maj. Ali Hamid, while he was driving in his car in Baghdad's northwestern Kadhimiya neighborhood, Iraqi police said.

    Also Friday, authorities found five bodies dumped in locations around the capital. The victims were shot in the head and could not be immediately identified, Iraqi police said.

    Authorities suspect that bodies turning up in Baghdad are the result of vendettas between Sunnis and Shiites. The sectarian violence has escalated since the February 22 bombing of a revered Shiite shrine in Samarra, north of Baghdad.

    Other developments

  • Iraqi Prime Minister-designate Nuri al-Maliki is working to assemble a Cabinet to present to parliament for approval. The Cabinet must be submitted around May 21, but politicians said they are hoping to complete the process by next week.
  • The U.S. military on Thursday showed reporters sections of a video that it said showed terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi looking less than competent while handling an automatic rifle. (Full story)
  • A report from retired Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey said the American strategy in Iraq is "painfully but gradually succeeding" and predicted that U.S. troops will be needed in Iraq for another three to five years. McCaffrey's memo, presented to students and faculty at the U.S. Military Academy, said that victory in Iraq is a 10-year task and that the United States "will remain in a serious crisis in Iraq during the coming 24 months." The Pentagon had no comment. (Watch new ideas on a U.S. exit strategy -- 2:11)
  • CNN's Arwa Damon, Jennifer Deaton, Cal Perry and Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.

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