At least three American soldiers were killed near Baghdad yesterday in a spree of violence that killed at least 27 Iraqis. At least 61 American service members have died in April, putting it on track to pass January - with 62 - as the deadliest month this year.

The three solders were killed yesterday when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb northwest of capital, the US command said.

Twenty-seven Iraqis also died in other violence, including seven who were killed when three mortars hit just outside the heavily guarded Green Zone in the capital, not far from Iraq's Defence Ministry.

At least eight other mortars or rockets exploded at about the same time on the other side of the Tigris River in central Baghdad, without causing injuries, police said.

Another mortar hit a home in southern Baghdad, killing a man and wounding two. Driveby shootings in a nearby district gunned down a woman teacher and a car mechanic.

Large fires burned at a state oil and gas complex in northern Iraq yesterday, but it was not known whether they were set by an accident or sabotage.

PHOTO CAPTION

U.S. Soldiers in Ramadi, Saturday, April 22, 2006. (AP)