"Three soldiers assigned to First Marine Expeditionary Force were killed in action in two separate incidents on December 5, while conducting security and stability operations in the Al Anbar Province," said a statement.

The US military said earlier that two other marines were killed in the same western Iraqi Sunni Muslim province on Friday.

Two Filipino civilian workers were wounded in separate attacks on US camps in Iraq, the Department of Foreign Affairs said yesterday in Manila.

Adulfo Abrera was slightly wounded in the leg in a rocket attack on a private contractor inside Camp Victory on December 1 while Ludwig Mark Reyes was injured by shrapnel from a mortar attack on Camp Anaconda last week, the foreign department said. Reyes was treated by camp doctors and is recovering from his injuries while Abrea was flown to Dubai for treatment and is in good condition although he walks with a limp, said a report from the Philippine embassy in Baghdad.

Manila pulled out its small military contingent from Iraq and banned the deployment of Filipino workers there after a Filipino truck driver was kidnapped by Iraqi militants and threatened with death.

The truck driver was later released after the pullout of the Filipino troops.

Despite the ban, Filipino workers already working in Iraq refused to leave while other Filipinos have been sneaking into the war-ravaged country to seek employment. About 6,000 Filipinos are believed working in Iraq, most of them with private contractors serving US-led coalition forces.

A Filipino accountant, Robert Tarongoy, employed by a Saudi Arabian trading firm, was kidnapped by Iraqi militants on November 1. His fate remains unknown.