2 US soldiers killed by roadside bomb in Baghdad

[August 04, 2008]  BAGHDAD (AP) -- The U.S. military said two American soldiers were killed and one was wounded by a roadside bomb in Baghdad on Monday, while Iraqi officials reported that at least nine Iraqis died in a separate series of bombings.

The deadliest attack was a roadside bombing against an Iraqi police patrol vehicle in Mahaweel, about 35 miles south of Baghdad that killed four policemen and three civilian bystanders, according to Iraqi police.

The U.S. military said it could not immediately confirm that attack.

The roadside bomb that killed the two American soldiers occurred shortly before 10 a.m. in eastern Baghdad, the U.S. military said. It did not provide more details.

Iraqi police officials said the attack occurred on Palestine Street, a major thoroughfare in eastern Baghdad. Two Iraqis -- a soldier and a civilian -- also were killed, and seven others were wounded, according to the Iraqi officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information.

The attacks came a day after a truck bomb explosion that killed 12 people and wounded 23 in Azamiyah, a former Sunni insurgent stronghold in northern Baghdad that has seen a sharp drop in violence after tribal leaders joined forces with the Americans against al-Qaida in Iraq.

[Associated Press; By KIM GAMEL]

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