A US contractor has been kidnapped in the Baghdad area.
A US Embassy spokesman said the American contractor, who was working on a reconstruction project, had been abducted around noon. He refused to release an identity or other details.
It is the latest in a string of abductions that have forced many foreigners in Iraq to work under armed guard.
A pickup truck also exploded near a US convoy as it patrolled a crowded market in the troubled city of Samarra, killing at least three people and injuring more than 20 others.
Three suicide bombers also hit a US marine outpost in western Iraq, wounding three soldiers and three civilians.
The suicide bombers had tried to crash two cars and a fire truck into Camp Gannon in the western desert, but "the drivers of the vehicles were stopped short of the camp by forces manning the checkpoints," a US military statement said. The vehicles then exploded.
Insurgents also fired at the camp, which is in the town of Qaim near the Syrian border, and a US attack helicopter destroyed a car carrying a gunman, officials said. It was unclear how many insurgents and suicide bombers were killed in the assault.
AP
