Three U.S. soldiers were killed and eight wounded in Iraq Friday, in a roadside bomb attack.

The U.S. military says the explosion occurred where a unit was on patrol in Tarmiyah, about 35 kilometers northeast of Baghdad.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi government announced that its security forces have captured a key lieutenant of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi -- Iraq's most wanted man. Talib al-Dulaymi was captured Sunday northwest of Baghdad, near the Syrian border. He is accused of arranging meetings of terrorist network leaders with al-Zarqawi.

On the political front, the leading contender to be the next prime minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, met Friday in Najaf with Iraq's top Shi'ite religious authority, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. Mr. Jaafari said later they discussed the importance of including the country's Sunni Muslim community, which mostly boycotted the election, in the process of drafting Iraq's permanent constitution.

Some information for this report provided by Reuters, AP.