A suicide car bombing struck an Iraqi army checkpoint outside a U.S. airbase in the Salahudin province on Monday, killing at least two Iraqi soldiers, a provincial police source said.

"A suicide bomber drove his explosive-borne vehicle into the checkpoint on the eastern entrance of a U.S. airbase outside the Siniyah town, 7 km west of oil refinery town of Beiji," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The attack resulted in the killing of at least two Iraqi soldiers and three others wounded, the source added.

In Beiji, 200 km north of Baghdad, dozens of gunmen with machine-guns and rocket propelled grenade launchers attacked a U.S. military convoy on the main street of the town at about 10:00 a.m. (0600 GMT), the source said.

Casualties were not known as the Iraqi and U.S. troops blocked the town, he said.

About thirty minutes earlier, another suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden oil tanker into the entrance of the police headquarters in Beiji and blew it up, killing at least 15 people and wounding more than 30 others.

The suicide bomber attacked the police headquarters immediately after a U.S. military patrol entered the main gate of the headquarters, the source said.

The attacks came a day after an Iraqi court sentenced three of Saddam Hussein's aides to death by hanging, including Saddam's cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid, and former Defense Minister under Saddam, Sultan Hashim Ahmed.

Source: Xinhua