Three die in bombing of US convoy in Iraq

Insurgents still target US troops in Fallujah One soldier and two civilians working for the US have been killed when a roadside bomb hit their convoy in western Iraq, the US military says. Two other people were wounded in the attack near the city of Fallujah while the group visited construction sites. The nationalities were not revealed, but one of the dead civilians worked for the US defence department and the other for the state department. Violence had lessened in the region since the intensity of 2005-07. Sporadic attacks Since then Sunni militia have joined the Awakening Councils - US-sponsored groups that helped cut violence in Iraq after turning against al-Qaeda. However, some insurgents sporadically target US and Iraqi security forces in Fallujah. The names of the latest casualties have not yet been released. They were part of a convoy of coalition forces, US government civilian employees and contractors. The deaths of US state department employees in Iraq have been rare, Associated Press news agency reported. At least six other state department employees have been killed in Iraq. Since the beginning of May, 19 US soldiers have been killed in Iraq, with a total of 4,301 killed since the US-led invasion in 2003, according to the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count. US President Barack Obama has said he wants all US troops out of Iraq by the end of 2011.