POSTWAR IRAQ Explosion kills 3 bombers

A cleric condemned the mutilation of the bodies of four Americans.
KIRKUK, Iraq (AP) -- Three people were killed when a bomb they were planting exploded prematurely in northern Iraq, police said.
The three were planting the bomb today at the entrance to a town hall in Riyadh, 16 miles west of Kirkuk, when it exploded, killing them instantly, police Col. Iyad al-Jabouri said.
Earlier, police had said that a suicide bomber detonated explosives at the town hall entrance, killing himself and two other people.
A police official in Kirkuk also said earlier that U.S. soldiers had been in the town hall, but al-Jabouri said no soldiers were in the building.
Also today, a cleric in Fallujah condemned the mutilation of four slain American contractors in the city but did not criticize the killings.
In Baghdad, meanwhile, a roadside bomb killed an American soldier and wounded another. The soldier killed in the attack was from the U.S. Army's 1st Armored Division, the military said.
Separately, a U.S. Marine was killed Thursday "as a result of enemy action" in Anbar province Thursday, according to a statement from Camp Fallujah, the Marine base in the area.
About 600 worshippers gathered at the Hmood al-Mahmood Mosque in Fallujah, just a few blocks from the site of the ambush, to hear Sheik Fawzi Nameq's sermon today.
What cleric said
"Islam does not condone the mutilation of the bodies of the dead," Nameq said.
"Why do you want to bring destruction to our city? Why do you want to bring humiliation to the faithful? My brothers, wisdom is required here," said Nameq, who refrained from making a judgment on the killings.
Clerics in Fallujah strongly oppose the U.S.-led occupation and often use sermons to criticize American authority.
The charred remains of the four Americans were dragged through the streets for hours after insurgents ambushed their vehicles.
The U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council condemned "the cold-blooded slaughter and mutilation of civilians" and vowed Thursday that "those murderers who carried out these terrorist acts will not hinder or disrupt the march of our people toward the dawn of freedom and democracy."
Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, deputy chief of U.S. military operations in Iraq, pledged to hunt down those who carried out the killings but said clashes could be avoided if Fallujah city officials arrest those responsible.
A Fallujah city council member, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the council issued a statement Thursday "condemning the mutilation of the bodies because it contradicts the teachings of Islam," but he did not say whether a decision was made to take action against those responsible for the killings.