Three U S servicemen killed in western Iraq

BAGHDAD, Sep 5 (Reuters) Two U S Marines and one sailor were killed in action in western Anbar province, the U S military said today.

Sailors are usually attached to Marine units as medics in Anbar, a stronghold of Sunni insurgents fighting US forces and the Shi'ite-led government of Baghdad. They were killed yesterday the U S military said in a statement without providing more detail.

Anbar, a vast desert swathe west of Baghdad that borders Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, is among the most volatile areas of Iraq, and where U S forces have suffered the most deaths.

Under an agreement to transfer command of Iraq's new military from U S-led forces to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government, Iraqi units would be handed over command of the Anbar cities of Ramadi and Falluja by April 1, an Iraqi official familiar with the timetable has told Reuters.

The agreement, set to be signed this week after a dispute between Washington and Baghdad over the wording held up an accord last week, is key to allow U S commanders plan the withdrawal of 140,000 U S troops in Iraq.

REUTERS MS RN1926