Nine Iraqis were killed in attacks north of Baghdad on Wednesday, most of them security forces. Several insurgents were also killed in clashes. Two bomb attacks also targeted US military convoys in the restive northern city of Mosul, but there were no immediate reports of any casualties. In London, The Independent daily reported that British troops may face new charges in Iraq as investigators explore fresh allegations of civilian deaths. The left-wing daily said it had uncovered evidence about the deaths of six Iraqi civilians in the British-controlled south of the country, whose families allege they were killed by British soldiers.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence in London had no immediate information on the report.

Four US soldiers have died in Iraq since Tuesday, one of them killed in action and the other three in fatal accidents, the US military said on Wednesday.

One soldier died and another was injured in a road accident in Diyala province, north of Baghdad, early Wednesday, it said in a statement. An Iraqi civilian was also killed and another two hurt in the same incident. Another US soldier died of a "non-combat injury" on a military base, said another statement, providing no further details. A third soldier was killed and another wounded in a crash near the northern town of Balad.

Earlier, the military announced that a US soldier was killed in action on Tuesday in the volatile western province of Al-Anbar.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2005