BAGHDAD, Iraq - Insurgents killed eight Iraqis and two coalition soldiers - one American and one British today, in attacks that included a gun battle with Iraqi police in Baghdad, officials said.

A bomb also went off at a famous monument in a Baghdad square honoring the 8th century founder of Baghdad to whom Saddam often compared himself. The blast, which toppled the bust of Abu Jaafar Al-Mansour but caused no injuries, appeared to be a jab at the former dictator.

Meanwhile, Iraqis continued to await the outcome of last weekend's constitutional referendum, as the slower-than-expected vote counting continued.

Questions about the integrity of the vote and physical barriers to getting marked ballots to the capital mean final results from the landmark referendum will not be announced until Friday at the earliest, officials said.

The returns have raised questions over the possibility of irregularities in the balloting - and have prompted an audit into an irregularly high number of "yes" votes.

Insurgents opened fire on a police checkpoint near the Hai Al-Adil highway in a western district of the capital, killing four policemen and wounding 11, police Capt. Qassim Hassan said. The fighting continued for several hours, and it was not known if any militants were hurt, Hassan said.

In other attacks in Baghdad today, insurgents shot and killed Hakim Mirza, a municipal director, and his driver, in the Dora neighborhood, and Muhsin Chitheer in front of his home in the al-I'alam area, police said. Chitheer was a lieutenant colonel in the Iraqi army that U.S. forces disbanded after invading in 2003.

A roadside bomb hit a U.S. Army patrol late Tuesday night, killing one soldier and wounding two near Iskandariyah, 30 miles south of Baghdad, the military said. The attack raised to at least 1,981 the number of members of the U.S. military who have died since the war began, according to an Associated Press count.

A British soldier also was killed by a roadside bomb late Tuesday night in the southern region of Basra, where most British forces are based, the Ministry of Defense said in London.

In Kirkuk, 180 miles north of the capital, a vehicle carrying Kurdish tribal leader Sheik Anwar Khalifa was hit by a car bomb, police said. He escaped unhurt, but a relative with him was injured, and one passer-by was killed and three wounded, police said.

In Baghdad, the bombing of the famous monument honoring Al-Mansour knocked his bust off the top of a 30-foot-tall triangular monument, said police Capt. Qassim Hussein.

The attack occurred at 1:30 a.m. in a northwestern area named after Al-Mansour, a caliph, or supreme religious leader of the Islamic empire, who built the city of Baghdad on the banks of the Tigris River in 762 A.D.

During his dictatorial rule from 1979 to 2003, Saddam often tried to compare himself and his accomplishments to those of Al-Mansour.