BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Iraq's deputy prime minister expressed growing impatience Tuesday with neighboring countries for not doing enough to keep foreign fighters from joining the insurgency here.

Also Tuesday, two U.S. servicemen were killed, the military said. A soldier was slain by small-arms fire while on patrol in Baghdad and a Marine died in a vehicle accident in the western Anbar province.

In Russia, President Vladimir Putin said he could not imagine how Iraqi elections scheduled for Jan. 30 could be held under current conditions. Insurgents in Iraq have killed more than 80 Iraqis since Friday, and Iraq's Sunni Arab Muslims are demanding the vote be postponed.

"Honestly speaking, I cannot imagine how it is possible to organize elections under the conditions of occupation by foreign forces," Putin said during a Kremlin meeting with Iraq's interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi.

Barham Saleh, speaking to the Iraqi National Council, did not say which neighboring countries were to blame, though he did say that on Monday, Iraqi police arrested a Syrian driving a car bomb packed with artillery shells and other explosives.

"There is evidence indicating that some groups in some neighboring countries are playing a direct role in the killing of the Iraqi people and such thing is not acceptable to us," Saleh said, adding that talks with foreign leaders on the problem had gotten nowhere.

"In my opinion, we have reached a stage in which if we do not see a real response from those countries, then we are obliged to take a decisive stance," Saleh said, without giving details.

In the past, Iraq has blamed its insurgency on foreign fighters and has called on its neighbors - particularly Syria and Iran - to more closely guard their borders against infiltration. Neighboring countries have expressed concern that instability in Iraq poses a threat to the entire region.

Also Tuesday, militants bombed two churches in the northern city of Mosul. Deputy provincial governor Khasro Gouran said one blast struck a church about 2:30 p.m. in eastern Mosul, wounding three people. An hour later, gunmen stormed the Chaldean Christian church in western Mosul, forced out the few people inside, rigged explosives and set them off, Father Ragheed Aziz said. No casualties were reported.

The U.S. military said American troops had captured 34 Iraqis, including 10 wanted for making explosive devices to attack coalition forces. South of Baghdad, a roadside bomb killed three Iraqi National Guardsmen on Monday night.

Soldiers from the 1st Infantry Division detained seven members of a car bomb-making cell Monday evening in Siniyah, 150 miles north of Baghdad. Seven other people, including three suspected bomb-makers, were captured in raids Monday in Tikrit, hometown of deposed leader Saddam Hussein.

Putin's comment about Iraq's election come after days of angry remarks from the Russian president about Western countries' criticism of elections in Ukraine. The victory of a candidate supported by Putin was overturned by the Supreme Court amid allegations of fraud, and another runoff set for Dec. 26.

The Bush administration has said it plans to stick to the Jan. 30 date for Iraqi elections despite the ongoing violence.

President Bush met Iraq's interim president, Ghazi al-Yawer, on Monday in Washington and told reporters it was impossible to "guarantee 100 percent security" in Iraq. Bush pledged the United States would do everything it could to make Iraq's elections as safe as possible.

Sunni Arab Muslims represent one-fifth of Iraq's nearly 26 million people and wielded the power under Saddam. They fear the election will give Shiite Muslims, with 60 percent of the population, an overpowering grip on the nation. U.S. and Iraqi officials are concerned that a boycott by Sunnis could undermine the legitimacy of a new government.

By Nick Wadhams