An explosives-laden vehicle has exploded near a US military patrol on a highway 5km northwest of Ramadi, the Iraqi police said.

There was no word on casualties on Saturday, and US military officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

After the blast, US forces immediately closed off the highway, which links Iraq to Jordan, Aljazeera learned.

Meanwhile, three Iraqi police officers were killed and seven wounded in a bomb blast in the tense northern oil centre of Kirkuk on Saturday as they buried a colleague killed the previous day, the city's police chief said.

"Around 10:30 (0730 GMT), three policemen were killed and seven others wounded by a bomb in the centre of Kirkuk as the funeral cortege of a colleague killed the day before passed by," said General Turhan Yusuf.

US soldier killed in Baghdad

The Pentagon has reported a US soldier killed in Baghdad as US forces are attacked elsewhere in Iraq.

A Task Force Baghdad Soldier died from a gunshot wound when his patrol in northeast Baghdad came under small-arms attack at around 3.30pm (1230 GMT) on Friday.

The soldier’s name is being held pending notification of next of kin, the US military said.

Earlier a car bomb blast killed two Iraqi civilians and wounded 15 others, including six US soldiers, in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

The US military said the soldiers wounded in the explosion on Thursday were all in a stable condition. There was, however, no word on the condition of the Iraqis.

US forces targeted

Aljazeera learned that two drivers carrying car bombs targeted a US military convoy in the Iraqi city of Haditha west of Baghdad.

Reports said the attacks left casualties among US soldiers but the US army did not comment further.

PHOTO CAPTION

The casket of US soldier is carried through a cordon of soldiers to a waiting hearse after services for the fallen Iowa Army National Guardsman, Wednesday, March 9, 2005, in Cedar Falls, Iowa. (AP)