Five people, including four security personnel, have been killed in separate rebel attacks in Iraq, police said.

Mohammad Rashad, a lieutenant-colonel with the country's special oil protection force, was shot dead on Tuesday by armed men in front of his house in oil-rich Kirkuk in northern Iraq.

His bodyguard was also killed, police said.

Armed men also shot dead Major Diya Hilal Taha, chief of Al-Ghazalia police station in western Baghdad when they opened fire on his patrol. His three bodyguards were wounded.

One policeman was killed and four others wounded when a car bomber blew himself up next to a police checkpoint close to al-Tharthar police station west of Samarra.

A mortar fell on a house in the village of Albuahil east of Tikrit, ousted president Saddam Hussein's hometown, killing one and wounding another.

Rebels have been carrying out sustained attacks on Iraq's fledgling security forces in recent months.

US air strike kills dozens in Iraq town

At least 47 people have been killed in two US-led air strikes in the western Iraqi town of al-Qaim near the Syrian border.

An al-Qaim hospital official, Muhammad al-Ani, said 35 people died in one house and another 12 in a strike on a second house.

Earlier, the US military said it had killed an al-Qaida fighter named Abu Islam and a number of other fighters in air strikes on Karabila, close to al-Qaim.

The US military gave no details of the total number of casualties.

According to the US statement, four bombs were used to destroy a house occupied by "terrorists" outside Husayba.

PHOTO CAPTION

A US soldier from 612th Engineer Battalion operates the arm of the 'Buffalo' to inspect Improvised Explosive Devices, July 2005 in Baghdad. (AFP)