Mosul, Iraq - Two Iraqi soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb as they patrolled an area west of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Thursday, police there said.

The soldiers, who were on patrol in the al-Baj district roughly 60 kilometres west of Mosul, became the latest casualties in the government's attempt to pacify the area, which remains among Iraq's most dangerous.

On February 20, Iraqi security forces launched "Operation New Hope" in an attempt to arrest insurgents concentrated on Mosul's left bank. The push has netted more than
100 suspected insurgents, but has also drawn a series of retaliatory attacks.

Three Iraqi soldiers died when a roadside bomb exploded near an army patrol on Wednesday. That bomb followed twin bombings near the city on Tuesday.

In eastern Mosul on Tuesday, the son of a Christian politician escaped a car bomb intended for him, but a Christian doctor who had been nearby was killed by the blast.

That attack revived memories of those between last September and November when dozens of Christians in the northern city were murdered, in a string of attacks that Christians at the time said they believed were intended to scare them out of the area.

Another bomb, also in eastern Mosul, struck a police patrol on Tuesday, injuring six civilians, but killing no police officers. (dpa)