BAGHDAD, Feb. 18 (Xinhuanet) -- A string of roadside bombings killed at least eight people in Baghdad on Saturday, including a U.S. soldier, police said.

U.S. soldiers are on guard on the site of the explosion in Baghdad, capital city of Iraq. [Xinhua/Reuters]

    Three policemen were killed and three others wounded when a roadside bomb hit their vehicle while they were escorting a convoy of oil tankers, a police source said.

    "A roadside bomb went off at about 8:50 a.m. (0550 GMT) near a police vehicle while escorting a convoy of oil tankers on the highway, which passes through the Baghdad al-Jadida district," Captain Ahmed Abdullah from Baghdad police told Xinhua.

    The blast destroyed the police vehicle, Abdullah added. Another roadside bomb detonated at 8:45 a.m. (0545 GMT) as a police patrol passed by also in eastern Baghdad, missing the target but killing three Iraqi civilians and wounding four others driving in two cars nearby, police said.

    At almost the same time, a roadside bomb detonated near a U.S. patrol in eastern Baghdad, killing a U.S. soldier and wounding another, a police source told Xinhua.

    "A roadside bomb went off at about 8:30 a.m. (0530 GMT) when a U.S. patrol was passing by near the Shaab Stadium, destroying a Hamvee," Captain Ahmed Abdullah said.

    Police at the scene said they saw a U.S. soldier killed and another wounded before the U.S. troops cordoned off the area, Abdullah said.

    The U.S. military confirmed the fatality later in a statement. In another development, an Iraqi police official escaped a roadside bomb which struck his convoy in central Baghdad, killing one of his guards and wounding another.

An injured Iraqi is receiving treatment in a hospital. [Xinhua/AFP]

    "A roadside bomb hit the convoy of Brigadier Abdul Karim Maryoosh, head of Karrada police station at about 10:20 a.m. (0720 GMT) near Uqba Bin Nafea Square," Captain Ahmed Abdullah, from Baghdad police, told Xinhua.

    Maryoosh escaped unhurt in the attack, but one of his guards was killed and another wounded, he said.

    Meanwhile, in the southern city of Basra, two men, believed to be foreigners, have been kidnapped, local security officials said.

    British military later confirmed that the two kidnapped are Macedonian nationals working for a private contractor in Basra. Enditem