Baghdad - The bodies of dozens more gunshot victims have been discovered around the Iraqi capital Baghdad as four US soldiers were killed over the past 24 hours in the country, reports said Friday.

Iraqi police said 51 bodies, all bearing gunshot wounds, had been discovered over the past 24 hours, bringing to over 100 the number of bodies of apparent victims of sectarian attacks found over the past two days.

Meanwhile, an American soldier was killed during operations in the western Anbar province Friday while another was killed Thursday when a bomb exploded near his patrol north-west of Baghdad.

Two other soldiers were killed and 25 were wounded by a suicide car bomb west of Baghdad a day earlier, the US military said Friday.

A statement said the attacker's car exploded in the midst of a group of troops as they were resting at an army outpost before heading out on patrol.

One soldier was killed at the scene of Thursday's attack, while the second died of his wounds in hospital, said military officials.

Suicide car bombings targeting US troops have become rarer as the soldiers normally shoot at a vehicle if the driver refuses to halt at their request.

Meanwhile, news emerged Friday of the kidnapping of a journalist working for the pan-Arab al-Arabiya news channel in the northern city of Mosul earlier in the week.

Mothanna Ibrahim was allowed to make a short phone call to his family, but the call could not be traced, sources said.

The Iraqi cabinet had on September 7 announced a month-long closure of al-Arabiya's offices in Baghdad and banned their reporters from working in the country.

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