BAGHDAD, Iraq - Attackers shot and killed a senior Interior Ministry official and two of his bodyguards in a drive-by shooting at the official's Baghdad home this morning, according to the Interior Ministry.

Also today, a suicide car bomber attacked near a U.S. base in the northern city of Mosul today, killing three Iraqis. Militants said they kidnapped two Jordanian truck drivers in spiraling violence in Iraq.

Col. Musab al-Awadi, the ministry's deputy chief of tribal affairs, and his guards had just left his house in al-Baya neighborhood in Baghdad when the gunmen shot them dead in a drive-by attack, according to Sabah Kadhim, an Interior Ministry spokesman.

Insurgents have been increasingly targeting police, national guardsmen and other security officials they accuse of collaborating with U.S. forces in Iraq.

Employees leaving the American base in Mosul said they saw a truck drive up and explode about 50 yards from the gates, setting nearby cars on fire.U.S. military spokeswoman Capt. Angela Bowman said a woman and a child standing near the explosion were killed, as was an Iraqi guard. Three U.S. soldiers and two Iraqi guards were injured in the attack, she said.Mosul has been the scene of numerous terrorist attacks, including two car bombings in January and June that each killed nine people.

Militants in Iraq said today they had kidnapped two Jordanian drivers and threatened to kill them in 72 hours if their Jordanian company did not stop doing business with the American military.In a video obtained by Associated Press Television News, the group calling itself the Mujahedeen Corps said the company, Rami al-Ouweiss, would "bear the consequences of the killing and retribution against these two men."The video showed the two drivers seated on the floor, while six masked militants, carrying a variety of weapons including a sword, stood behind them.The two men, identified as Fayez Saad al-Udwan and Ahmed Salama Hassan, said they were being treated well and pleaded with their employers to meet their captors' demands. Hassan called upon all Arabs and Muslims "not to deal with the Americans and to aid the militants."Al-Udwan, who at one point held up his Jordanian identification card, said he was "regretful," and if he could turn back time he would not have worked with this company.Jordanian government spokeswoman Asma Khader said the government was following the news of the kidnappings.Militants in Iraq have repeatedly taken foreign Muslims hostages, but in many cases eventually released their captives.The drivers, at one point speaking with guns pointed at their heads, said all the foreign companies working in Iraq were collaborating with U.S. forces.The hostages called on their government to intervene and force the company to pull out of Iraq and specifically from U.S. bases here.Tensions had been high between Jordan and Iraq because of the Jordanian government's support for the U.S.-led war. Jordan has also given asylum to two of Saddam's daughters.Another militant group, meanwhile, released a video on pan-Arab TV station Al-Jazeera saying it had taken hostage two Pakistanis working for U.S. forces and sentenced them to death because their country was discussing sending troops to Iraq. It was latest in a wave of abductions of foreigners designed to force their countries to rethink sending troops to Iraq.In a separate video aired by Arab stations today, kidnappers extended a deadline for their demands to be met for the release of seven foreign drivers - three Kenyans, three Indians and an Egyptian. It was unclear how long the deadline had been extended.The workers' employer, the Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport Co., said the captors have not demanded a ransom and that it was confident the help of "Iraqi friends" involved in negotiations would secure their prompt release.In Basra, insurgents killed two Iraqi women today working as cleaners with British forces in southern Iraq and seriously injured two others, police and hospital officials said.Lt. Col. Ali Kadhem, of Basra police, said attackers drove alongside the women's car as they were driving to work at Basra airport and sprayed gunfire at them. He said that two women were killed and two were injured.All four worked as cleaners at the airport, which is used as a base by British forces. Insurgents have routinely targeted Iraqis working for coalition forces, describing them as collaborators with occupation troops.