Four died when their patrol struck an improvised explosive device in the Yusufiyah district, in southwest Baghdad.

And two were killed in an explosion while on patrol near Anaconda base, on the outskirts of Balad, 75 kilometres (45 miles) north of the capital.

Their death bring to at least 2,020 the number of US military personnel killed in the Iraq operation since the March 2003 invasion, according to an AFP tally.

Rebel attacks Sunday killed the brother of one of Iraq's two vice presidents and wounded a deputy minister, as the US military announced the death of an American marine in a roadside bombing. The marine died Saturday "of wounds sustained from an enemy improvised explosive device attack on his vehicle," the military said. The attack took place in a town near Fallujah, some 50km west of Baghdad.

The latest death brought to 2,014 the number of US military personnel killed in the Iraq operation since the March 2003 invasion, according to an AFP tally.

The Iraqi deputy trade minister, Kais Dawud Hassan, was wounded when gunmen opened fire on his convoy in western Baghdad. He was rushed to hospital after the attack, an interior ministry official said.

Two bodyguards were killed and six injured in the attack.

Earlier in the day cabinet advisor Ghaleb Abdel Mehdi, brother to Vice President Adel Abdel Mehdi, died of wounds after being ambushed in his car in Baghdad. His driver was also killed.

The attacks came one day after a bomb hidden in a truck packed with dates exploded in the Shiite village of Huwaider, some 60km north of Baghdad, killing at least 26 and wounding at least 45.

The bombing was apparently the work of Sunni extremists bent on sparking a sectarian war in the run-up to the December legislative elections.