Baghdad - An Iraqi soldier was killed Monday when a bomb went off inside his car in the northern Kurdish province of Salahaddin, while four civilians were killed and 
17, including a policeman, were wounded in a series of separate blasts across Baghdad, police sources said.

A bomb exploded inside the car of a soldier who was on his way to work in Tuzkhurmato district in Salahaddin province. The detonation killed the soldier, a police source told the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency. The source did not give further details.

Separately, four civilians were wounded in a blast near the al- Nahda area in eastern Baghdad. Police cordoned off the area and moved the wounded to a nearby hospital, a police source told VOI.

London - Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem Monday accused the US of "criminal and terrorist aggression" by launching a raid on civilians in which seven people, including three children, wer

Washington - Republican presidential candidate John McCain met with economic and business leaders on Monday, while Democrat Barack Obama was to address voters with remarks he dubbed his "closing argument" as the campaigns made their final pushes ahead of next week's elections.

The faltering US economy remained the key issue of the race with McCain arguing that voters can trust him to handle the crisis. Both were in Ohio, one of a select few hotly contested states that will decide the outcome of the election.

Kabul- US military spokesmen confirmed that Taliban rebels shot down a US helicopter in central Afghanistan Monday, while three US-led soldiers died in suicide and roadside attacks elsewhere in the country, officials said.

The helicopter crew engaged with Taliban fighters on the ground in Wardak province, about 50 kilometres west of Kabul city, US military spokesman Major Johan Redfield told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

He said the chopper was hit by "enemy fire" but none of the 10-member crew was killed.