A resistance bomber killed five American invaders in an attack Saturday north of the city of Najaf, a U.S. military officer said. Capt. Andrew Wallace said the dead were part of the Army's 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Divison. The attack occurred at a U.S. checkpoint on the highway north of Najaf. A taxi stopped close to the checkpoint, and the driver waved for help. Five invasion soldiers approached the car, and it exploded, Wallace told Associated Press Television News.

U.S. Central Command in Doha, Qatar, confirmed the incident. Meanwhile, U.S. Apache helicopters attacked units of Iraq's elite Republican Guard on Saturday, killing at least 50 Iraqi soldiers and destroying a number of their tanks, a senior US officer said. "We fired 40 missiles and we had 40 hits," Major Hugh Cate told Reuters.

"We had a confirmed kill of at least 25 vehicles including tanks, armoured personnel carriers and trucks, and at least 50 dead," he added.

Cate said some 30 Apache helicopters from the 101st Airborne Division were used in the attack against the Republican Guard's Medina Division which was dug in southwest of Baghdad.

One U.S. helicopter had a "hard landing" just after take off due to instrument failure, while a second helicopter crash landed on return because the pilot was blinded by swirling dust.

He broke a leg and his Apache was knocked out of action. Saturday's attack was the 101st's first major combat operation since the beginning of the war on Iraq 10 days ago. "The 101st is back in flight," said Cate. "This was our first deep attack mission."

PHOTO CAPTION

An unidentified wounded U.S. soldier is carried on a stretcher off a C-141 military plane at the U.S. Air Base Ramstein in southern Germany, Saturday March 29, 2003. AP Photo/Michael Probst)