BAGHDAD, Feb. 25 -- A roadside bomb killed three U.S. soldiers and wounded nine as they patrolled Friday in Tarmiya, a town about 20 miles north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.
Witnesses told the Associated Press that the attack occurred around midday. "There was a group of American soldiers walking in the road while around five Humvees were parking behind them," said Waleed Nahed, 35, who lives in the area. "I heard a very loud explosion, and I saw bodies flying."
Ibrahim Jafari, the main Shiite coalition's candidate for prime minister, speaks to reporters after meeting with Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani in Najaf.
(Ali Abu Shish -- Reuters)
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Meanwhile, the Iraqi government announced the arrest of three insurgents, including one said to be extremely close to Abu Musab Zarqawi, the Jordanian-born insurgent leader with ties to al Qaeda.
Talib Mikhlif Arsan Walman Dulaymi, also known as Abu Qutaybah, was captured in a raid in Anah in volatile Anbar province in western Iraq on Feb. 20, the government said in a statement. It described Dulaymi as "a trusted lieutenant" of Zarqawi's and "a critical figure" in his network. He "was responsible for determining who, when and how terrorist network leaders would meet" Zarqawi, the statement said, adding that he arranged "safe houses" and passed packages and money to the rebel leader.
Captured with Dulaymi was Ahmad Khalid Marad Ismail Rawi, who used the name Abu Uthman and occasionally served as Zarqawi's driver, the statement said.
A third insurgent, alleged to be responsible for several beheadings, was also recently captured, according to a government statement issued late Thursday. Mohamed Najam Ibrahim was arrested in Baqubah, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, the statement said. It gave no date for his arrest. Government officials told the Associated Press that Ibrahim had carried out beheadings with his brother.
News of the arrests came as Iraqi political figures pursued intense, behind-the-scenes talks aimed at influencing the nomination of candidates for prime minister. And on the Muslim day of rest, when observant Muslims attend prayer services at mosques, one of the candidates met with Iraq's preeminent Shiite Muslim religious leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani.
Shiite politician Ibrahim Jafari, who has been nominated by the country's largest political coalition, met with Sistani for two hours in the southern city of Najaf. Afterward, he said that the cleric had "blessed and supported the process in which we, in the United Iraqi Alliance, chose our candidate for the post of the prime minister."
Jafari, whose candidacy is being challenged by the country's interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, also said that Sistani urged cooperation among all parties and recognition of "the critical circumstances" that prevented some Iraqis from participating in last month's elections, an apparent reference to the Sunni Muslim minority that largely boycotted the vote.
Asked about Sistani's role in drafting a permanent constitution for Iraq -- the main task of the newly elected National Assembly -- Jafari said the religious leader regarded this as the assembly's responsibility and that he "doesn't intervene or impose any decision."
Special correspondents Omar Fekeiki in Baghdad and Saad Sarhan in Najaf contributed to this report.
