Two British soldiers were killed in a roadside bomb attack in southern Iraq today as a resurgent wave of sectarian violence claimed up to 60 lives.

A third soldier was injured in the attack in al-Amarah although his wounds are not considered life threatening, the Ministry of Defence said.

The killings came as the Iraqi Prime Minister’s office issued a statement putting the total death toll in the six days since the provocative bombing of an important Shia shrine in Samarra at 379.

The orgy of violence showed no signs of diminishing in Baghdad today, where at least 40 people were killed when four bombs went off in little more than 30 minutes this morning. Another 16 died and more than 50 were hurt in a car bomb outside a Shia mosque in Baghdad’s northeast neighbourhood of Al-Hurriya.

The three British soldiers were understood to be attached to the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards battle group. It is thought all three live in England where the families were being informed.

Relations between British forces and local officials in al-Amarah have been tense since the publication in the News of the World earlier this month of footage videoed in 2004 of soldiers assaulting four Iraqi men after a demonstration.

Army sources reported that after today's bombing locals hurled rocks at British soldiers, forcing them to return to the safety of the Camp Abu Naji compound on the town's outskirts.

Major Sebastian Muntz, a British military spokesman in Basra, said: "The incident is under investigation. We can also confirm there has been a disturbance following the original incident. There have been no further British casualties and the whole incident is over and all the troops are back in camp."

Today’s deaths take the number of UK service personnel who have died since the Iraq conflict began to 103.

Tony Blair’s official spokesman said: "Sadly, once again, we are aware of the deaths of two British soldiers."

The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards are Scotland’s senior regiment and only regular cavalry. The Regiment was formed in 1971 from the union of two famous regiments, the 3rd Carabiniers and the Royal Scots Greys.

The wave of violence unleashed by the Samarra bombing last Wednesday continued in Baghdad where a wave of four bombs in quick succession targeted a petrol station, a police patrol and a market.

In the filling station in the eastern New Baghdad neighbourhood, a suicide bomber joined a queue to buy kerosene before detonating explosives strapped to his body. At least 23 people were killed and 51 wounded.

In the same suburb, a car bomb targeting a police patrol killed nine people and wounded 17. All of the victims were civilians

car bomb hit a small market opposite a Shia mosque in the crowded south-eastern Karradah neighbourhood, killing four people and injuring 16. Distraught neighbours rushed to the scene as firefighters fought back flames from burning cars.

A fourth blast thought to be a mortar attack took place in an open area near the Iraqi national theatre, although there were no reports of casualties.

Despite calls for calm from Iraqi religious and political leaders and an unprecedented daytime curfew for three days last week that prevented most residents from attending Friday prayers, tensions remain high.

The Iraqi army found nine bodies this morning near two burnt-out minibuses off the road from Baghdad into Iraq’s strife-prone Diyala province. The victims included Sheik Hamid Irbat Ghazi, of the influential Mahamdeh tribe, and two of his nephews, police said.

Hours before the trial of Saddam Hussein restarted in Baghdad today, a shrine built by the former dictator over his father's grave in his hometown of Tikrit was badly damaged in a bomb attack.

Zalmay Khalilzad, the US ambassador to Iraq, told CNN that although last week Iraq "came to the brink of civil war" the "crisis is over".

In Rome, where he is visiting President Berlusconi, President Bush sidestepped a question about whether the surge in sectarian violence would affect his administration’s hopes to begin drawing down US troops.

"Obviously there are some who are trying to sow the seeds of sectarian violence. They destroy in order to create chaos," he said.

"And now, the people of Iraq and their leaders must make a choice. The choice is chaos or unity, the choice is a free society, or a society dictated by evil people who would kill innocents."

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