Monday: 3 US Soldiers, 21 Iraqis Killed; 31 Iraqis Wounded

Updated at 6:40 p.m. EDT, Aug. 4, 2008

Three American soldiers were killed and a third one was wounded in separate incidents. At least 21 Iraqis were killed and 31 more were wounded across the country as well. Meanwhile, the Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based rights group, said that U.S. authorities must produce evidence or release a journalist in their keep. Also, the parliament has scheduled a new vote on the provincial elections law for tomorrow.

Two U.S. soldiers were killed and another was wounded in a bombing on Baghdad's Palestine Street. The attack, near Mustansiriya University also left two Iraqis dead and 15 more wounded. Another American soldier died in Balad of non-combat injuries.

Elsewhere in Baghdad, two dumped bodies were found. Two policemen were wounded in an IED attack in Doura. The brother of a famous soccer player was liberated hours after he was kidnapped. Iraqi forces arrested 17 suspects. Also, workers at a hospital gave up calling police in Sadr City when they refused to respond to a foiled kidnapping; army forces were then called in to arrest the suspects.

In Mosul, a bomb targeting a deputy governor's convoy killed one bodyguard and injured six others. Four policemen and three civilian were wounded during another bombing. Soldiers killed a gunman. At least one other gunman was killed in that or a separate confrontation. Gunman shot dead a woman yesterday. A bomb was safely defused. Also, two bodies were found. One of the bodies apparently belonged to a female government worker who was kidnapped on Saturday.

A roadside bomb blast killed seven people, including four policemen, in Mahaweel.

In Suwayra, two bodies were pulled from a river, and a third body was discovered nearby. Many bodies have been found there thanks to intricate irrigation system that catches bodies floating down the river from as far away as Baghdad.

One civilian was killed and a second was wounded during an armed attack in Kut.

A large C4 bomb was defused in Nasariya.

U.S. forces captured seven suspects in northern and central Iraq.

In Diyala province, Iraqi forces detained 34 wanted suspects in Khalis and Khazraj. Fifteen more were arrested in Muqdadiyah. An al-Qaeda leader was arrested somewhere in the province as well. Meanwhile, an Interior Ministry spokesman reported that the border with Iran has been secured and Awakening Council members will be treated as part of the regular army.

Two gang leaders were captured in Basra.

In Jordan, a military court sentenced 12 men, some in absentia, to as much as five years for planning to join the insurgency in Iraq.

A New York-based rights group, the Committee to Protect Journalists, said that the U.S. military must either provide evidence against or release a photojournalist they detained recently. This is the third time that Ali al-Mashhadani has been detained without charges being brought against him. The military claims they are allowed to detain indefinitely anyone they judge to be dangerous. Al-Mashhadan work for Reuters and freelances for the British Broadcasting Corp. and National Public Radio.

The Iraqi parliament may have reached an acceptable compromise on a provincial elections law. The elections are expected to give ethnic populations more power in their respective provinces, but circumstances particular to Kirkuk have stymied the implementation of the law. It was already passed by parliament and then vetoed by President Talabani, who is a Kurd. Among other issues, the majority Kurds would like the region to join the Kurdish autonomous region, while the city's Arab and Turkmen minorities wish to continue under the authority of the central government.

Compiled by Margaret Griffis