Iraqi fighters have killed a US soldier in Baghdad in an attack involving small arms fire, the military said on Thursday. According to AFP, the soldier died in western Baghdad on Wednesday, bringing the number of troops killed in Iraq to 35 for the month so far.
All in all, the number of American soldiers killed in November remained at a low not seen since March 2006. In May, as the influx of troops gained momentum, 126 Americans died.
In November to date, at least 648 Iraqi civilians have been killed or found dead, according to figures compiled by The Associated Press. This compares with 2,155 in May.
Meanwhile, Iraqi and US troops killed two suspects and detained 22 in separate raids across the country, military statements said Thursday. American forces killed two and detained five militants in the village of Khan Bani Saad, north of Baghdad, in an early morning raid. "The suspected criminal was also reportedly an associate of several other senior criminal element leaders who were involved in attacks on coalition forces," a US military statement said.
The Iraqi defence ministry said its forces raided a hideout of Al-Qaeda in Iraq near the town of Latifiyah, south of Baghdad, and captured 17 suspects. Security officials also reported that a bomb went off inside a bus in Baghdad's central Palestine Street, killing one person and injuring five.
