FACTBOX: Security developments in Iraq, Dec 26

(Reuters) - Following are security developments in Iraq at 1730 GMT (12:30 p.m. EST) on Wednesday.

* denotes new or updated items.

* NINEVEH PROVINCE - Two U.S. soldiers were killed and three others wounded in a gunbattle in Nineveh Province north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

* BAGHDAD - Seven dead bodies were found in Baghdad over the past two days, police said.

NEAR BAQUBA - The decomposed bodies of 17 men were found dumped in a town near the restive city of Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, the Iraqi army said.

KANAN - Gunmen attacked an Iraqi army check point, killing three soldiers and wounding another seven in the small town of Kanan, east of Baquba, a security source said.

BAQUBA - Three members of a neighborhood patrol fighting with Iraqi forces and the U.S. military against al-Qaeda were killed and two were seriously wounded when a booby-trapped house exploded as they entered it in Baquba, police said.

MOSUL - Three children were killed and two wounded when a roadside bomb in a garbage dump exploded while they were playing nearby in the city of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

LATIFIYA - Two bodies were found bound and shot in the town of Latifiya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

BAIJI - Gunmen killed Ali al-Igaidi, a tribal leader, in a drive-by shooting in the town of Baiji, 180 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, police and hospital sources said.

NEAR SAMARRA - The U.S. military said an insurgent killed by U.S. forces on Nov 8 had been identified as Abu Abdullah, also known as Muhammad Sulayman Shunaythir al-Zubai, describing him as a high-level al-Qaeda leader.

TUZ KHURMATO - Police said they killed an insurgent while he was trying to plant a roadside bomb in the town of Tuz Khurmato, 180 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad.

(Baghdad newsroom; editing by Peter Graff)