A mortar round landed in a street in northeastern Baghdad Friday, killing three women when shrapnel hit their home, and soldiers discovered the bullet-riddled bodies of six men wearing handcuffs in western Baghdad, police said.

The mortar hit the Gaylani neighborhood of Baghdad, where the Interior Ministry has offices in the area. Police said three other people were injured, the AP reported.

Police said the men found dead in western Baghdad were handcuffed and all were between the ages of 25 and 30.

On the political front, Iraqi leaders trying to form a national unity government were expected to resume talks Friday. Meanwhile, tensions arose over complaints of American interference in Iraqi political affairs.

A letter from President Bush to Iraq's supreme Shiite spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, was hand-delivered earlier this week but sits unread and untranslated in his office, according to a close aide to al-Sistani.

The al-Sistani aide said Shiite displeasure with U.S. involvement was so deep that dignitaries in the holy city of Najaf refused to meet the US envoy Khalilzad on Wednesday during ceremonies commemorating the death of the Prophet Muhammad. The Afghan-born Khalilzad is a Sunni Muslim.

© 2006 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)