Suicide bomber attacks Iraqi governor, 3 dead

RAMADI, Iraq, May 2 (Reuters) A suicide car bomber attacked the motorcade of the governor of the restive Iraqi province of Anbar today, killing three bodyguards, hospital sources and local residents in the regional capital Ramadi said.

Governor Maamoun Sami Rasheed was wounded and was being treated at a US medical facility, an aide said after the attack in the centre of the city, a stronghold of Sunni Arab rebellion 110 km west of Baghdad.

Local people who said they had seen the attack, close to the main court building, said a car drove at three civilian cars being escorted by US Humvee patrol vehicles and exploded, damaging some of the limousines.

The US military made no immediate comment.

A predecessor of Rasheed was kidnapped and killed last year. Two others resigned, one after his sons were kidnapped. Al Qaeda Islamists and hardline followers of Saddam Hussein vow to kill Sunni Arabs who join the US-sponsored political process.

The US military said on Tuesday that Iraqi and US troops had killed more than 100 insurgents last week in Ramadi. Two Iraqi soldiers died and no Americans were killed.

Reuters witnesses in Ramadi said there were heavy clashes last week between US forces and insurgents in the city but they could not independently confirm the number of deaths.

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