Three U.S. Soldiers, Marine Die in Iraq

Three U.S. soldiers were killed and eight others were wounded Monday when a roadside bomb detonated in the capital near a helicopter carrying an Army medical team, U.S. military officials said.

Insurgents attacked the medical team as it responded to a vehicle accident in southwestern Baghdad in which one soldier was injured, the military said in a statement, offering no further details.

In other violence, a Marine was killed in action in Al Anbar province west of Baghdad, the military said. Military officials also announced that a U.S. soldier had been killed Saturday in Mosul by small-arms fire. No further details were immediately available on either incident.

Meanwhile, in a surprise political development, interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi put in a formal bid to retain his position in the new transitional government, sending a political signal to jostling Shiite Muslim parties that he might be a compromise candidate if they are unable to agree on a choice for prime minister.

Until now, the race had been seen as a two-man contest between longtime exiled leader Ahmad Chalabi and conservative interim Vice President Ibrahim Jafari, both of whom ran on the United Iraqi Alliance slate that captured the most votes in last month’s national assembly election.

The slate is expected to hold a secret ballot today to determine whether Chalabi or Jafari will be the bloc’s nominee for prime minister, officials said.

In other developments, Australia said today that it would send 450 more troops to southern Iraq to help protect Japanese engineers and bolster the country’s fledgling democracy. Prime Minister John Howard said the new detachment would include a cavalry squadron, an infantry company and a team to train local forces.

Australia sent 2,000 troops to take part in the 2003 invasion and still has nearly 900 troops in and near the country.