BAGHDAD, Iraq — Gunmen attacked two Sunni mosques early today in the Iraqi capital, while the U.S. command said three U.S. Marines died in action in western Iraq.

Also today, the western regional commander of the Iraqi Border Protection Force, Brig. Gen. Jawad Hadi al-Selawi, was killed in Karbala, 50 miles south of Baghdad, police said.

Men in two cars sprayed gunfire at the Muhammad Rassulluallah mosque in western Baghdad shortly after midnight, shattering its windows and damaging its walls, police said. One guard was injured.

An hour later, gunmen stormed into the nearby Ashra al-Mubashara mosque, but fled when Iraqi police arrived, officials said.

Sectarian violence has escalated in Iraq in recent months, with Sunni radicals — including members of al-Qaida — and Shiite militias staging tit-for-tat killings. Thousands from both sects have fled the country, according to Iraqi officials.

The Marines died Thursday in Anbar, the western province that is a focal point of the Sunni-dominated insurgency. A U.S. statement said they were attached to the Army's 1st Armored Division, which operates in Ramadi, but gave no further details.

Their deaths brought the number of U.S. service members who have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003 to at least 2,573, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes seven military civilians.

In Baghdad, six day laborers were wounded when a bomb exploded downtown in Tayaran Square, where the workers had gathered to wait for jobs. Three policemen were also wounded when a roadside bomb struck their patrol in northern Baghdad, police said.

A Sunni cleric from a tribe opposed to al-Qaida in Iraq was killed while driving in Samarra, about 60 miles north of Baghdad, police said.

Iraq's national soccer coach, meanwhile, resigned after receiving a death threat, sporting officials said. This follows the killing of the country's wresting coach on July 13. Two days after that, more than 30 sporting officials, including the chairman of Iraq's Olympic Committee, were kidnapped during a meeting in Baghdad.

At least 10 of them have been freed, but National Olympic Committee chairman Ahmed al-Hijiya is among those still missing.

The attacks came a day after the head of the biggest Shiite party called for a greater security role for Iraqis in the country in place of Americans. The remarks by Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim run counter to U.S. plans to put more American soldiers on the streets of Baghdad to try to curb the surge in sectarian violence.