Police found the bodies of 41 Iraqis beheaded or shot by insurgents at two sites in the Sunni heartland, the latest in a series of mass killings by guerrilla groups. In Baghdad, gunmen opened fire on the planning minister?s convoy Wednesday, police said. Minister Mehdi al-Hafidh was unharmed but one of his bodyguards was killed in the ambush, just hours after a suicide bomber struck near a central hotel.

The bomber detonated a garbage truck packed with explosives outside the Sadir hotel that is used by Iraqi police and foreign contractors, killing two policemen.The US embassy said 30 US contractors were among 40 people wounded in the blast, which shook central Baghdad, blew a huge crater in the road and shattered windows in nearby houses. It blasted away part of the Agriculture Ministry?s facade.

Al Qaeda?s wing in Iraq, led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, said it was behind the bombing ? part of its campaign to bring down the government and drive out US troops. In an Internet statement, Zarqawi?s group said gunmen had opened fire on police to allow a suicide bomber to attack the hotel ? which it described as ?the hotel of the Jews.?

?The mujahideen opened fire on the police and guards protecting the Jews and when the entrance was clear, the hero... blew up the infidels,? the group said, adding that the attack was timed to avoid harming any Muslim passers-by.Huge plumes of thick smoke blackened the Baghdad sky as police, ambulances and fire engines rushed to the hotel.In a separate attack in the capital, a roadside bomb killed a US soldier Wednesday and wounded another, the military said. Since the invasion in March 2003, at least 1,505 US soldiers have died in Iraq, 1,150 of them killed in action.

<B>The victims</B>

In Qaim, 500 km (310 miles) west of Baghdad, the bodies of 26 people, including one woman, were found. A doctor said the victims, in civilian clothes, had been shot two days ago.Fifteen bodies ? some shot, others beheaded ? were found just south of Baghdad in the Sunni-dominated area now known as the ?triangle of death,? Iraqi army sources said.

Insurgents have frequently dumped large numbers of bodies in public places as a warning to others. The victims are usually police, soldiers or Iraqis working with the US military. An Iraqi militant group, Islamic Army in Iraq, posted an Internet video showing two Sudanese hostages urging other drivers in Iraq not to work with occupation forces.

The group said the men, identified as ?the criminals? Mohammed Haroun Hamad and Maher Ataya, would be brought before an Islamic committee to decide their fate. They were employed by a Turkish firm as drivers at an airbase north of Baghdad. ? This work is an abandonment of Islam. I advise others to leave any work with the occupying infidel because the hand of justice will reach them wherever they are,? the hostages said, reading from a statement.

Guerrillas have tried to tap into the frustration many Iraqis feel over what they say is harassment and heavy-handed tactics by US soldiers battling the insurgency. Controversy over US tactics in Iraq has been stoked by the fatal shooting of an Italian secret agent during a hostage rescue, and the accidental killing of a Bulgarian soldier.The Italian government has rejected an initial US account of how American soldiers fired on agent Nicola Calipari?s vehicle as it approached Baghdad?s airport Friday, killing him and wounding newly freed hostage Giuliana Sgrena.The US military said it had not been informed that Calipari was heading to the airport and his car ignored signals to slow down as it sped toward a checkpoint.Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi told Rome?s Senate that America had to take responsibility for the killing.

?Only a frank and reciprocal recognition of eventual responsibility is the condition for closure of the incident which was so irrational and that caused so much sorrow,? he said, adding that he welcomed Washington?s offer to hold a swift joint investigation into the incident. ?Our friendship with the United States is strong and loyal, and we have the duty to demand from them the utmost truth,? Berlusconi said, winning a standing ovation from all political parties at the end of his speech. Bulgaria, a US ally which has 430 troops in Iraq, has also accused US troops of accidentally killing a Bulgarian soldier and demanded a full investigation.

<B>Elizabeth PIPER</B>

MURDER ATTEMPT

<B>Foreign guards, not assassins, shot at Iraqi minister </B>

■ Foreign security guards, not assassins, opened fire on Iraqi Planning Minister Mehdi al-Hafedh in Baghdad on Wednesday, an aide to the minister and residents said yesterday. Hafedh, a key figure in efforts to rebuild the country, escaped injury as he was driving to the house of former foreign minister Adnan Pachachi, but two of his guards were killed and one was wounded. Police initially said the shooting had been an attempt to assassinate the minister but later said it appeared to have been a mistake by foreign security guards. ?I don?t know why they attacked. An investigation is just starting,? a Planning Ministry official said. Residents said the foreign guards worked for a Western company in Mansour, a once affluent area of the capital. There are about 20,000 foreign private guards in Iraq, earning large salaries protecting foreign companies, Iraqi facilities and media organisations.