Pentagon officials on Friday said two US soldiers and an unknown number of civilian contractors went missing in Iraq after an attack on a fuel convoy west of Baghdad.

One US soldier and an Iraqi driver were killed when insurgents attacked the convoy transporting fuel, US military commanders in Iraq said. Twelve others were wounded, but it was not clear if thewounded were US soldiers or Iraqi civilians.

Gunmen carrying automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenadesstruck a tanker truck in the convoy in Abu Ghraib on the main highway entering western Baghdad, US commanders said. Television footage showed huge clouds of black smoke rising from the scene.

Another soldier was killed in an attack on a US base in northern Baghdad, the US military said.

At least 50 American and allied soldiers have been killed in the last week in a new round of insurgency by both Sunni and Shi'ite forces battling US-led occupation.

Source: Xinhua