BAGHDAD, Iraq - Two US soldiers and a Marine were killed in Iraq, the US military said Friday, bringing the number of Americans who have died in the country so far this month to 23.

Col. Al Kelly, left, 45, 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry, 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, hometown Weldon, NC and Ammar Kajjo, 34, Kurd under contract with U.S. Army as Arabic interpreter, hometown Ft. Lauderdale, FL, center, stroll through the streets of north Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, Nov. 9, 2006, reassuring residents that US forces will finish their mission there despite U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's resignation. They are seen approaching an unidentified Iraqi boy carrying English books, on his way to school. [AP]

Iraqi security forces said they arrested the head of an al-Qaida cell in a western Iraqi city.

The two American soldiers, assigned to the 89th Military Police Brigade, died when the vehicle they were traveling in was hit by a roadside bomb Thursday in western Baghdad, the US command said. Another soldier was wounded, it added.

The Marine, assigned to Regimental Combat Team 5, died Thursday from wounds suffered in fighting in Anbar province. At least 11 of the 23 American deaths in November were in Anbar province. Most of the others died in the Baghdad area.

At least 105 US forces died in October, the fourth highest monthly toll of the war.

Since the beginning of the war in 2003, 2,843 members of the US military have died, according to an Associated Press count.

Acting on a tip, Iraqi soldiers descended on a building in the city of Rawah, 175 miles northwest of Baghdad, where they arrested local al-Qaida commander Abu Muhayyam al-Masri, whose name is a pseudonym meaning, "the Egyptian," a Defense Ministry official said.

Two aides, Abu Issam al-Libi, or "the Libyan," and Abu Zaid al-Suri, "the Syrian," were also arrested, along with nine other members of the cell, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

The pseudonyms appeared to mark the men as foreign fighters, thousands of whom are said by Iraq's government to have crossed the porous border with Syria about 55 miles west of Rawah to join the insurgency. There was no official confirmation of their nationality.

The official said al-Suri confessed to organizing at least one suicide bombing in Baghdad. He said the raid also netted a large quantity of weapons.

Rawah lies deep in Anbar province, where Sunni Arab insurgents routinely launch deadly attacks on US and Iraqi forces that show no sign of diminishing in numbers or intensity, more than three years after the US invasion.

In other violence, six Iraqi soldiers were killed and 10 wounded when a suicide bomber drove his explosives-rigged car into an army checkpoint in the northern city of Tal Afar, the military said.

The unit's commander was among those killed, and eight civilians were also injured, army spokesman Brig. Najim Abdullah said.

Tal Afar has continued to suffer frequent insurgent attacks, despite President Bush's declaration in March that the city was an example of progress made in bringing security to Iraq. Tal Afar lies 93 miles east of the Syrian border, 260 miles northwest of Baghdad.

Three members of a family were killed by gunmen who stormed their home near Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, according to an officer of the Diyala provincial police.

Three unidentified bodies were found Thursday in Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles north of Baghdad, the Diyala officer said, speaking on routine condition of anonymity.

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