The Marines died during fierce fighting around Fallujah and Ramadi. Nine others were injured during the incident in the Anbar province west of the capital.
The American military has been threatening a heavy assault on the Sunni rebel-held towns where Islamist militants are believed to be holed-up.
Meanwhile, south of Baghdad, witnesses said Iraqi forces opened fire randomly and threw hand grenades, hitting three minibuses and three vans, after a US convoy came under attack - killing at least 14 people.
In a separate incident, a car bomb went off outside the studio of Arab television channel al-Arabiya in the al-Mansour area. Nineteen people were injured, police and hospital officials said.
Fierce clashes erupted in Fallujah as an American military convoy entered the southeastern industrial Shuhada neighborhood and nearby Nueimiya village - an apparent probing foray on the city's edges. Explosions and gunfire rocked the area and smoke was seen billowing in the air, witnesses said.
Marines responded with heavy artillery fire after insurgents shot mortar shells from positions in the southeast of the city. A Marine Harrier jet bombed a mortar position inside Fallujah.
Al-Arabiya correspondent Najwa Qassem confirmed that one guard and one administration worker were among the dead.
A militant group calling itself the "1920 Brigades" claimed responsibility for the attack, blasting al-Arabiya as "Americanized spies speaking in Arabic tongue" in a statement posted on the web.
It was not possible to verify the claim's authenticity.
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(Filed: 30/10/2004)
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