Baghdad - An attack near the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk Wednesday left three US soldiers dead, while two Iraqi troops were killed and eight injured in a bomb blast north-east of Baghdad, according to military and medical sources. The US military said the three soldiers were killed by small arms fire in Hawija near Kirkuk, 250 kilometres north of Baghdad.
The deaths bring the number of US troops killed in Iraq since the
2003 war to 4,090.
In Baquba, 60 kilometres north-east of Baghdad, a bomb went off on a highway as an Iraqi army patrol drove by, killing two soldiers and injuring eight, medical sources told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
Baquba, the capital of the Diyala province, has been a hotbed of activity by Sunni insurgents, who find refuge in the region's abandoned farmland.
In the nearby town of Baldruz, a decomposed body of a woman was found. Dpa str sf ms
041210 GMT Jun 08