BAGHDAD, Iraq - Gunmen killed a U.S. civilian contractor and injured another north of Baghdad, while an Apache helicopter killed seven people suspected of preparing a rocket attack on a U.S. base near Tikrit, the military said today.

Unrelenting violence in Iraq has pushed Washington to discuss ways of speeding up the transfer of power to an Iraqi-led government.

A member of Iraq's Governing Council said today that the group will study Washington's proposals for a speedier transfer of power but won't necessarily agree with the details.

"For our part, we have our own ideas," said Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish member of the 24-member body appointed by U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer four months ago.

Bremer returned to Baghdad after meeting this week with President Bush. Othman said he would likely meet with Governing Council members on Saturday to present details of the policy shift. "We will listen to Bremer and he will listen to us," Othman said.

Meanwhile, attacks continued and U.S. forces kept up their new "get-tough" campaign against the insurgency.

The civilian contractor was killed and another was injured when gunmen attacked a convoy of vehicles Thursday afternoon near Balad, 45 miles north of Baghdad, the military said. The victims were not identified pending notification of relatives.

Private U.S. contractors are working in a wide variety of tasks in Iraq - helping rebuild infrastructure and train Iraqi police and officials, as well as taking military roles, such as guards.

In Baghdad's northwestern neighborhood of Khadra, a roadside bomb blew up today as U.S. soldiers tried to defuse it, causing three casualties among the soldiers, a witness said. The witness, Ahmed Mohammed, did not know if the three soldiers were killed or wounded, and the U.S. military had no immediate comment.

U.S. troops blocked the road for about an hour and called through loudspeakers for Iraqis to help them capture those who planted the bomb. They also handed out leaflets offering a $10,000 reward to anybody with information about anti-coalition insurgents.

And near Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, an Apache helicopter today attacked and killed seven people believed to have been preparing a rocket attack on a U.S. base, the military said. A patrol later found hundreds of rockets and missiles at the site.

In other developments:

n Troops from the 101st Airborne Division also captured 14 "suspected terrorists," including eight who belonged to a Mosul cell whose leader is suspected of plotting to assassinate a top coalition official, the military said. Separately, three suspects were arrested for "conducting attacks on U.S. forces," the military said.

n Gunmen opened fire on jeeps carrying Portuguese journalists in southern Iraq today, wounding a woman reporter in the leg, news reports said. Another reporter went missing.

n In the northern city of Mosul, three soldiers were slightly wounded when an improvised explosive device went off near their convoy Thursday afternoon, the military said.

The Bush administration is proposing elections in the first half of next year and formation of a government before a constitution is written, a senior U.S. official said in Washington. In the past, the administration insisted that Iraqi leaders write a constitution and hold elections before the occupying power begins shifting power to Iraqis.

"The constitutional process will take some time, and we think that during this period the Iraqi people need a basic law, a provisional government and a broader representation in the governing council," Othman said.

Washington's policy shift is widely seen as part of a response to the worsening security situation and the uprising that already has claimed the lives of more than 50 coalition soldiers this month.

Coalition partners were stunned by Wednesday's truck bombing at an Italian installation in Nasiriyah, killing at least 32 people, 18 of them Italians. It was the bloodiest attack on any coalition force since the war began on March 20.

In the wake of the attack, Japan said Thursday it was delaying a decision on sending troops to Iraq, delivering a new setback to U.S. hopes for easing the pressure on its forces.

South Korea also said it would limit its contribution to 3,000 troops and officials said today that Seoul has ordered its 464 soldiers in southern Iraq to suspend their operations outside coalition bases. Denmark rejected a push to bolster its 410-member force.