It was the greatest number of U.S. deaths in combat in a day since September 20

BAGHDAD, October 2 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – As U.S. occupation forces carried out a new wave of detentions in Iraq, three American soldiers were killed in a span of hours on Wednesday, October 1, taking the toll to 88 in five months.

A 4th Infantry Division soldier died of wounds he received in an RPG attack on his convoy which was traveling by Samarra, at nine pm (1700 GMT), a military spokesperson was quoted by Agence France-Presse (AFP) as saying.

The infantryman was evacuated from Samarra to a field hospital where he later died, the spokesperson added.

As the convoy was being ambushed in Samarra, unknown assailants shot dead a U.S. soldier and wounded another in the capital.

The two members of the 1st Armored Division, were shot with a small-caliber handgun also at nine pm while on patrol in the posh Al Mansur neighborhood in Baghdad, the U.S. military's Central Command said in a statement.

The fatal attacks commenced at five pm with a bomb blast that left one soldier dead and two wounded in Tikrit, 175 kilometers (110 miles) north of Baghdad.

Major Josslyn Aberle, of the 4th Infantry Division, said the soldier was killed by an "improvised explosive device", which more and more is the weapon of choice for guerrillas in their war of attrition against the U.S.-led forces occupying Iraq.

"One soldier was killed and two wounded," Aberle said, adding that the injured were in serious condition. She said a third soldier suffered slight wounds and returned to duty.

It was the greatest number of U.S. deaths in combat in a day since three soldiers were killed on September 20.

The U.S. military claimed the resistance draws upon veterans of Saddam's security services, religious ‘fundamentalists’ and some foreign fighters.

But observers attribute the attacks generally to the anti-American sentiments boiling among the war-embattled Iraqis seeking an end to the occupation and a quick return of the situation to normal.

Baghdad city was rocked on Wednesday, October 1, by violent scenes as a demonstration by unemployed Iraqis turned into riot.

The demonstrators, two of them were injured in the clashes, accused the U.S. civil administration of not living up to its promises of creating jobs in the oil-rich country where 10 million Iraqis in both the private and public sectors are jobless after the U.S. decision to dissolve the defense, interior and information ministries.

Also dashing hopes for a precipitous end to occupation, Iraqis got news that the drafting of the new Iraqi constitution would rather take a year, far beyond Washington’s earlier six-month deadline.

New Detentions

In the meanwhile, U.S. occupation forces detained 22 Iraqis on suspicions of arms deal in Tikrit.

Soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division and Iraqi police carried out the raid on a building in Hassaynia, a U.S. military commander said on Wednesday, setting the date for the sweep at Tuesday.

He claimed that 22 arms dealers were detained, and 12 Kalashnikovs, 25 hand grenades and three mortars recovered.

The U.S. occupation forces restored on Sunday, September 29, a large amount of weapons and explosives in the town, including Russian-made surface-to-air missiles.