BAGHDAD, October 31 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Three U.S. soldiers and eight Iraqis were killed in separate attacks rocking a number of Iraqi cities Friday, October 31, according to eyewitnesses and U.S. military spokesman.

At Abu-Ghuraib town, some 25 kms to the west of Baghdad, a U.S. convoy attacked by Iraqi fighters, leaving at least two U.S. soldiers, eyewitnesses told IslamOnline.net.

The attack left at least four Iraqis, including a policeman, dead in the attack, the eyewitnesses added.

The crowd in the town was whipped into frenzy by the father of a six-year-old boy who was crushed by a US tank, a witness later told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"An American tank crushed a car killing ... the child who was inside," said stall owner Nabil Abbas. The boy's father alerted people who were just leaving mosques after Friday prayers, according to Abbas.

The crowd burned tires, and shot at and hurled rocks at US troops and Iraqi police, Abbas said.

"The police tried to contain the protest, the protesters opened fire and a policeman was killed," said police Major Mussa Lazem.

Witnesses said U.S. troops fired back at the crowd.

"The U.S. soldiers fired blindly on the demonstrators. They killed three Iraqi civilians," said Abbas Jassim, a medic.

Another witness said there are still some charred bodies in the stalls that burned down.

The staff at a nearby hospital reported one death and three people wounded, while 17 more were being treated for bullet wounds at another hospital.

The area was sealed off Friday night with U.S. Humvee military vehicles blocking access to all but residents whose houses had already been searched.

The U.S. occupation forces were not immediately available to comment on the Abu Gharib clashes, but a U.S. military official earlier confirmed the grenade attack on U.S. troops.

In the meantime, one American soldier was killed and four others from the 82nd Airborne Division wounded when a device exploded at 8:45 am (0545 GMT) in Khaldiyah, 80 kilometers (50 miles) west of the capital.

Washington has now lost 119 troops in action since the major combat was declared over on May 1, more than it lost during the six-week spring invasion.

A U.S. statement said there are a number “of rumors of a 'Day Resistance' throughout Baghdad on Saturday and Sunday, November 1 and 2," marking six months since Washington declared major combat over.

Moving north, U.S. soldiers opened fire on an Iraqi farmer and killed him earlier in the day, a U.S. spokesman told IOL.

He made no mention of the reasons behind the shooting.

In the restive town of Fallujah, some 65 kms to the west of Baghdad, angry local inhabitants attacked and set ablaze the headquarters of the Iraqi governor, an eyewitness told IOL correspondent by telephone.

The U.S. soldiers and Iraqi policemen guarding the building opened fire on the attackers, killing one of them, according to al-Jazeera satellite channel.

Civil defense official Ahmad Khalil al-Rawi said that the unrest had started with an explosion, which had prompted neighbors angry at the almost daily violence around the town hall to send a delegation to demand that the municipality move its offices elsewhere.

"They came in to say that they were fed up with bombs and attacks against the municipality every day. They asked that it be moved to another place, away from residential areas," Rawi said.

“But after a brawl broke out, a policeman opened fire and killed one of the residents, Shaker Hekmat. Then the neighbors went home, fetched arms and attacked the municipality”.

Subjected to a barrage of bullets and stones, the police retreated to a courtyard behind the building, while U.S. military helicopters hovered overhead.

Iraqis have been complaining of ill-treatment by U.S. soldiers

In the east, two Iraqi civilians were killed when a landmine exploded under a car on the way to the nearby Dalli Abbass town in Baaquba some 65 kms to the east of Baghdad, according to al-Jazeera.

Amid a recent upsurge in violence, 119 U.S. soldiers have now been killed since U.S. President George W. Bush declared major hostilities over on May 1 - more than those killed during the war itself.

A U.S. defense official in Washington said Thursday that a former Iraqi general, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, is believed to be coordinating attacks in Iraq by what the official termed “foreign fighters and Saddam loyalists”.

Observers said the anti-American sentiments now growing among ordinary Iraqis jeered by the continued occupation of the oil-rich country and lack of security or adequate basic services in its war-ravaged towns and cities should be taken into consideration.