By Mohammed Abbas
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A roadside bomb killed three U.S.soldiers in Iraq on Saturday, pushing the U.S. death tollcloser to the 4,000 mark at the start of the sixth year of thewar for U.S. troops.
The deaths, which brought the number of U.S. soldierskilled since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 to 3,996, came threedays after U.S. President George W. Bush said the United Stateswas on track to victory in Iraq.
In an upbeat speech marking the fifth anniversary of thewar, Bush acknowledged the "high cost in lives and treasure"but said a U.S. troop build-up in Iraq had reduced violencethere and opened the door to a strategic victory in the war onterror.
The war is a major issue in the U.S. presidential campaign,with Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama andHillary Clinton calling for an early troop withdrawaltimetable.
Presumptive Republican nominee John McCain wants to keeptroops in Iraq until it is more stable.
The U.S. military said the three soldiers were killed whena roadside bomb blew up near their vehicle northwest ofBaghdad. Two Iraqi civilians also died in the attack. It gaveno further details about where the incident occurred.
Roadside bombs are the biggest killers of soldiers in Iraq.
On Friday, a U.S. soldier died from wounds sustained from"indirect fire", a term commonly used by the military to referto a mortar or rocket attack, south of Baghdad.
Six members of a U.S.-backed neighbourhood patrol groupwere killed early on Saturday in a U.S. helicopter strike ontheir checkpoint in Salahuddin province, police and a localtribal leader said.
The U.S. military said it had conducted a helicopter attackin the province, but denied it had attacked a checkpoint. Itsaid the strike killed six men suspected of placing roadsidebombs. Investigations were under way, the military said.
SUNNI PATROL TENSIONS
The U.S. military has credited the formation of what itcalls Concerned Local Citizen groups (CLCs), also known asAwakening Councils, for playing a crucial role in a 60 percentdrop in violence across Iraq since last June.
The mostly Sunni Arab neighbourhood patrols have some90,000 men in western Anbar and provinces north and south ofBaghdad. The U.S. military pays them $300 a month to patroltheir neighbourhoods and man checkpoints.
Tribal leader Abu Faruq said Saturday's air strike tookplace on a CLC checkpoint near the town of Ishaqi, 100 km (60miles) north of Baghdad.
"They knew all this area under is my control, and all themen were in uniform and were not firing their weapons, so whydid this happen? If Awakening checkpoints are hit this way, itis a disaster," he said.
The incident is the latest in a string of disputes betweenthe CLCs and the U.S. military. In November, U.S. warplanesattacked a CLC checkpoint north of Baghdad, killing 25 men.
In February, CLCs in Jurf al-Sukr, south of Baghdad, saidU.S. forces killed three of their number, and in the samemonth, neighbourhood patrols in Diyala province, north ofBaghdad, temporarily stopped working to demand more pay and theremoval of a local police chief.
The southern Baghdad districts of Shurta and Hay al-Amiland the southern city of Kut were reported to be quiet onSaturday after Mehdi Army fighters loyal to Shi'ite clericMoqtada al-Sadr clashed with Iraqi and U.S. forces a dayearlier.
Sadr imposed a unilateral ceasefire on his unruly militialast August and extended it last month, a move U.S. commanderssay has helped to reduce violence in Iraq.
But the gunbattles in Baghdad and Kut have raised fearsthat it may be unravelling at a time when the U.S. military isin the process of withdrawing 20,000 troops.
Mehdi Army fighters have complained that the truce tiestheir hands and opens them to attack by rival Shi'ite factionsand U.S. forces. U.S. commanders say they only target MehdiArmy units that have ignored Sadr's ceasefire order.
(Writing by Mohammed Abbas; Editing by Ross Colvin)
