IRAQ Mortars kill 4 soldiers, wound 20

Machine-gun fire killed three people near a mosque.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Insurgents fired mortar rounds at an Iraqi National Guard headquarters in the city of Samarra today, killing four U.S. soldiers and one Iraqi guardsman, the military said. A fifth U.S. soldier was unaccounted for, and 20 were wounded.
The 10:30 a.m. attack destroyed a joint headquarters used by the Iraqi and American troops.
Soldiers responded to the attack 25 minutes later, after 1st Infantry Division radar determined where it had originated. Soldiers fired four 120 mm mortars in response.
U.S. troops secured the area around the national guard headquarters.
The wounded soldiers were being evacuated to a Multinational Force hospital. The names of the soldiers killed in action are being withheld pending next of kin.
Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, is located in the so-called Sunni Triangle, a hotbed of anti-coalition resistance. The city has been wracked by violence throughout today.
Machine-gun fire
In other parts of the city, machine-gun fire slammed into a school and the neighborhood near a mosque, killing three people and injuring 20 others, said Dr. Abid Tawfiq, director of the Samarra General Hospital. Witnesses also reported seeing helicopters and tanks in the city.
Earlier in the day, a roadside bomb in the city targeted a U.S. military convoy, wounding one U.S. soldier, said Maj. Neal O'Brien of the 1st Infantry Division.
Philippines ban
Meanwhile, the Philippines barred its workers from traveling to Iraq today after an Arab television station aired a video in which militants threatened to kill a Filipino hostage if his country does not withdraw from the Mideast nation.
The video, broadcast Wednesday by Al-Jazeera, showed three armed and masked men standing behind the seated hostage, threatening to kill him if the Philippines doesn't pull out within three days. It did not give any details of his capture, but the group claimed to have killed an Iraqi guarding him.
Today, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ordered Philippine contract workers not to travel to Iraq, but she did not refer to kidnappers' demands to withdraw Philippine troops.
"She just ordered an immediate stop to the deployment of new workers going to Iraq," Arroyo spokesman Ignacio Bunye told The Associated Press. "And then she is asking for an assessment from our Middle East team."
Multinational force
Fifty-one Philippines soldiers and police are part of the multinational force in Iraq. In addition, about 4,100 Filipinos are working in U.S. military bases in Iraq as cooks, mechanics or in other jobs. The president also offered government help for any workers who wanted to come home.
The Philippines special envoy to the Mideast, Roy Cimatu, said the troops' "tour of duty will end toward the end of the month. We will come up with a recommendation shortly whether we will extend their tour of duty."
In the video, a banner on the wall behind the captors identified them as a previously unknown group called the Iraqi Islamic Army-Khaled bin al-Waleed Corps.
The video did not name the hostage. The footage shows an identity card that an Al-Jazeera staffer in Qatar later told The Associated Press belonged to the slain Iraqi guard.
The card, issued by Al-Ghadeer Security Service, bore the name Hafidh Amer, identified as a security guard. The footage also showed a weapons authorization card with the same name.
Al-Jazeera's newscaster said the Filipino is an employee of a Saudi company that works for the U.S. military.
Similar scene
In the video, the hostage wore a bright orange garment similar to that worn by the American hostage Nick Berg when he was beheaded by Iraqi militants led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
The group's namesake, Khaled bin al-Waleed, is one of the commanders of the army of Islam's prophet Mohammed.
Al-Jazeera spokesman Jihad Ballout said the channel received the videotape Wednesday.
The Philippines has been among the biggest supporters of the U.S.-led war on terrorism. In addition to sending a small peacekeeping contingent to Iraq, the Philippines has invited U.S. troops to train Filipino soldiers in counterterrorism.