Iraq governor escapes assassination attempt

TIKRIT, Iraq (Reuters) - The governor of Iraq's Salahuddin province escaped an assassination attempt on Monday that, if successful, would have made him the third regional governor to be killed this month, police said.

Two roadside bombs exploded near the convoy of Governor Hamad al-Qaisi, but he escaped unscathed. Two of his bodyguards were hurt, police and sources in the governor's office said.

The incident took place in the violent Qadisiya neighbourhood of ousted leader Saddam Hussein's hometown Tikrit.

Salahuddin is an ethnically and religiously mixed province along the Tigris River north of Baghdad that has been the scene of some of the fiercest fighting of recent months as U.S. forces and their allies battle Sunni Arab al Qaeda guerrillas.

U.S. troops battled guerrillas and launched air strikes in the Salahuddin city of Samarra on Sunday. U.S. forces said they killed about 18 insurgents, while a police officer at a hospital said five children and three women were among the dead.

The governors of two provinces in the mainly Shi'ite south of the country were killed earlier this month in separate attacks believed to be a result of Shi'ite factional infighting.