Iraq's first lady escapes bomb

BAGHDAD, May 4 (UPI) -- Iraq's first lady escaped a bomb that hit her motorcade in downtown Baghdad Sunday, the president's office said.

Hiro Ibrahim Ahmed, the wife of President Jalal Talabani, was on her way to the al-Mada cultural festival at the National Theater when the bombing occurred, CNN reported.

Four soldiers and two civilians were injured in the attack.

Three other roadside bombings in two separate incidences in Baghdad Sunday killed a police officer and injured 14 people, an Interior Ministry official said.

Iraqi residents said U.S. and Iraqi officials Saturday scattered leaflets throughout Sadr City asking them to fight "criminal elements" in the area.

A U.S. air strike near a hospital in eastern Baghdad Saturday killed three Iraqi boys, a 10-year-old boy injured in the strike told CNN.

In other news, U.S. forces reportedly killed five suspected militants and arrested 24 others in clashes in Baghdad's Rashid district.

Four U.S. Marines died when their military vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Iraq's al Anbar Province, officials said.

An Iraqi police officer died and eight were injured when a roadside bomb went off Saturday in western Baghdad, a ministry official said.