Baghdad, Iraq ? A blistering series of attacks, coming nearly hourly, wounded seven U.S. soldiers in Iraq on Tuesday, and the United States offered a $2,500 reward for information leading to the arrest of anyone who kills a coalition soldier or Iraqi policeman.

Meanwhile, a U.S. soldier attached to the 101st Airborne Division was killed in what the military said was a noncombat gunshot wound near Balad, 55 miles north of Baghdad, the military said today. The soldier’s name was withheld pending notification of next of kin; no further details were available.

The new reward is aimed at stemming an insurgency that has plagued efforts to restore security and basic services.

“I urge the Iraqi people to come forward to take these people off the streets of the country,” former New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik said in announcing the $2,500 reward.

Kerik, who is in charge of security in Iraq, also said U.S. forces and Iraqi police had arrested Sabah Mirza, who was a bodyguard for Saddam in the 1980s before being fired. A raid on Mirza’s farm after his June 26 arrest netted plastic explosives, mortars, a machine gun and 10,000 rounds of ammunition.

U.S. soldiers Tuesday raided a building in central Baghdad, following up on a claim by residents who say they thought they saw Saddam driving through the area Monday to cheers and celebratory gunfire.

During the sweep, several residents chanted pro-Saddam slogans and sang: “With our souls and our blood we sacrifice ourselves for you Saddam.”

Tuesday brought fresh attacks in what has become a bloody and uncertain peace for coalition forces.

Insurgents dropped a homemade bomb from a bridge onto a passing U.S. military convoy in Baghdad, wounding two soldiers. Another two soldiers were injured when their vehicle struck a land mine in the capital.

In Kirkuk, 175 miles north of the capital, assailants fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a military convoy, wounding three servicemen.

Since President Bush declared major combat in Iraq over on May 1, 29 U.S. servicemen have been killed by hostile fire and 45 others have died in accidents and other nonhostile circumstances, a total of 73.

On May 1, the number killed in action stood at 114, according to figures released Tuesday by the Pentagon.