BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. jets pounded suspected Shiite militant positions in the Baghdad slum of Sadr City today, killing at least five people and wounding 46. In the northern city of Mosul, insurgents set off a car bomb that killed four National Guardsmen.

The U.S. military said the strikes in Sadr City, a hotbed of insurgents loyal to renegade Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, struck several "positively identified" militant hideouts.

Residents said explosions lit up the night sky for hours before dawn. Mangled vehicles, debris and shards of glass littered the streets.

Dr. Qassem Saddam of the Imam Ali hospital in Sadr City said five people were killed and 40 were wounded - including 15 women and nine children. At least two children wrapped in bloodstains bandages could be seen lying in hospital beds and one man suffered burns from head-to-toe.

Lt. Col. Jim Hutton said insurgents also fired three mortar rounds at a nearby U.S. Army base, but that the shells fell short and exploded in a civilian neighborhood. It was not immediately known if there any casualties.

"While maintaining security is a primary concern, we are also very concerned about minimizing collateral damage and putting the innocent residents of eastern Baghdad at risk," Hutton said. "The enemy shows no concern for the Iraqi people."

In Mosul, insurgents set off a car bomb as a seven-vehicle Iraqi National Guard patrol was passing by, killing at least four guardsmen and wounding three others, police said.

Gunmen followed up the blast with a burst of automatic weapons fire before fleeing the scene, said Lt. Col. Saleh Jamer, the patrol's commander.

Police Capt. Mushtaq Abdul-Karim said the explosion killed at least four guardsmen and wounded three others and also hurt a civilian.

In a separate attack, insurgents fired several mortar rounds that struck a police academy on Palestine street in east Baghdad early today, Interior Ministry spokesman Col. Najah Shakre. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

The National Guard is the centerpiece of U.S. plans to turn over security responsibilities after elections slated for January. Guardsmen and Iraqi police have been repeatedly targeted by insurgents who are trying to undermine the interim government and drive out the U.S.-led coalition.

Also today, a roadside bomb apparently intended for a U.S. military convoy exploded prematurely outside the city of Baqouba, killing four civilians, said Hussein Ali of the Baqouba General Hospital.

On Sunday, two car bombs wounded American and Iraqi troops in Kharma, a town on the outskirts of the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah. The two attackers who died in the twin blasts tried to ram their cars into a National Guard base, a U.S. military official said on condition of anonymity.

The number of U.S. and Iraqi casualties was not immediately clear, but a statement from the U.S. Marines said there were no serious injuries among American troops at the base.

Meanwhile, a U.S. military statement announced the detention of National Guard Brig. Gen. Talib al-Lahibi, who previously served as an infantry officer in Saddam Hussein's army. He was detained Thursday in the province of Diyala, northeast of Baghdad.

The statement provided no details, but said he was suspected of having links to militants who have been attacking coalition and Iraqi forces for 17 months.