BAGHDAD, Iraq — Bombs and bullets killed at least 11 people, including four Marines who died in a pair of bombings in western Anbar province.

Three Marines assigned to the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit were killed Monday in a bombing in Hit, 85 miles west of Baghdad, the military said. The other Marine, attached to the 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, died from wounds caused by a bombing Sunday in an unspecified location in Anbar.

The deaths bring the number of U.S. military personnel killed to at least 2,257 since the Iraq war began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

In other news, Iraq's higher education minister escaped unharmed today from a car bomb attack on his convoy that lightly wounded three of his bodyguards, a ministry spokesman said.

The attack on independent Shiite lawmaker Sami al-Mudafar was the second attempt on his life in the past two years. The first occurred when he was education minister under the transitional government of former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.

Higher Education Ministry spokesman Bassel al-Khatib said a car bomb exploded in downtown Baghdad's Karradah district as al-Mudafar's four-vehicle convoy passed. Al-Khatib could not say if the car was driven by a suicide attacker or if the bomb was detonated by remote control.

On Tuesday, gunmen assassinated a Sunni community leader in the former extremist stronghold of Fallujah — part of an insurgent campaign to prevent prominent Sunni Arabs from joining the U.S.-backed political process.

Sheik Kamal Nazal, a Sunni preacher and chairman of the Fallujah city council, was gunned down in a hail of bullets from two passing cars as he walked to work, police Chief Brig. Hudairi al-Janabi said.