Gunmen killed a South African, a New Zealander and an Iraqi in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk today as Iraqi fighters stepped up their attacks on foreign workers.
Gunmen opened fire with AK-47 rifles in a drive-by shooting on the victims' vehicle as they were leaving their residence.
The South African and Iraqi were killed during the shooting, and the New Zealander later died of his wounds. The foreigners were engineers and the Iraqi was their driver.
In Baghdad, a bomb that exploded outside a hotel in Baghdad last night wounded 11 foreigners and two Iraqi guards.
Witnesses said the blast at the Four Seasons Hotel damaged the ceiling and scattered debris in the dining room. Police and US forces cordoned off the area of the blast on Saadoun street.
"It was caused by an explosive package placed behind the hotel," central Baghdad police chief Ahmed Elwi said. In London, the Foreign Office said seven Britons were hurt but none seriously.
A bomb at a crowded market in Baghdad earlier in the day killed at least three Iraqis and wounded nine.
British troops in Basra face could be facing a new threat. Arabic television Al Jazeera broadcast a video tape in which an unknown Iraqi group vowed to kidnap and kill Arab and foreign workers - especially Kuwaitis - in Iraq's southern city.
The tape showed a group of masked men, some holding automatic rifles, and one man reading a statement.