Five US soldiers and three locals have been killed in separate incidents in Iraq over the past 24 hours.
Three soldiers were killed and six others injured in a car bomb attack on a military checkpoint in Khaldiyah city, 70 miles west of Baghdad.
Eight injured Iraqis were admitted to the hospital in the nearby town of Ramadi. One is in a serious condition.
Earlier today, two US soldiers died in a helicopter crash. Authorities have refused to give details what caused the OH-58 Kiowa Warrior to come down in northern Iraq, killing both pilots. The deaths raised the American forces' death toll in the Iraq conflict to 507.
In central Iraq, seven US soldiers were among around 50 people hurt in a pick-up truck blast outside a courthouse in Samarra.
It was targetted at a US military police patrol which was turning into the adjacent police station when the explosion happened.
Despite the capture of Saddam Hussein on December 13th, insurgents loyal to him have continued to attack police stations and US troops in the so-called Sunni Triangle in central Iraq.
Today, at least one sniper in a building shot and injured an American soldier who was in a foot patrol in a Baghdad neighbourhood.
A bridge across the Tigris River in Baghdad, leading to the coalition headquarters, was closed by US troops for two hours today. Witnesses said they were searching for a bomb, but the military would not confirm the claim.
Meanwhile, a UN military adviser and a security coordinator have arrived in Baghdad to meet US officials and inspect buildings that could be used if UN staff return.
If the UN returns they are likely to be asked to help resolve a dispute between the occupying coalition and Iraq's leading Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, who is demanding direct elections.
Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, a Shiite leader and close associate of Ayatollah al-Sistani, said the plan to restore power to Iraqis "is unacceptable." But Americans and others are slowly coming around to the need for elections, he said.
His views carry considerable weight in Iraq, where the Shiite majority has risen to dominate the political scene after decades of suppression by the Sunni Arab minority.
The United States say it is impossible to hold elections by the summer given the lack of a census, lack of electoral rolls and the continuing violence.
Under the US power-transfer plan, Iraqis will also vote early next year to chose delegates who will draft a constitution. The draft will later be adopted in a national referendum. The third and final 2005 vote, under the plan, is to elect a new parliament.
AP