IRAQ - Dec. 26 - US Soldiers Killed.

Three US soldiers are killed in the Sunni Triangle, bringing to 9 the number of American deaths in a spate of insurgency violence thought to be timed to the Christmas holiday. (Two of the deaths occurred in separate incidents in and around Baquba - the scene of several attacks in recent days including a mortar attack on a US army base which killed 2 and injured 4 on Dec. 25. Coalition forces responded to several attacks in Baghdad - which included mortars fired into the HQ of occupation forces, high-rise hotels and a handful of embassies - with what military officials said was the biggest offensive in the capital since the end of main combat in May. Despite the show of force on both sides, there was little significant damage and no deaths in the Baghdad attacks. In the southern outskirts of Baghdad, local tribal leaders said there had been 3 days of artillery fire and attacking helicopters as part of a US operation, called Iron Grip, but most missiles appeared to have landed in open fields. Resistance attacks appeared aimed at an Iraqi police training centre in the area. The US military belittles the insurgency attacks in Baghdad. "The enemy responded with a few, weak and ineffective attacks throughout the city, which seem feeble when compared to the massive attacks they had advertised", says the 1st Armoured Division, the US army unit responsible for security in Baghdad. One roadside bomb exploded near a convoy inside Baquba in the morning, killing one soldier and wounding another. A second soldier died while defusing a bomb just outside the city centre. The third died in a similar attack in the nearby town of Balad. Baquba is littered with graffiti supporting Saddam Hussein. Soldiers in the town have reported almost nightly mortar attacks on their bases, although they have lessened following aerial bombardments of rebel positions.