A U.S. soldier was killed and three others were wounded while on patrol in northern Iraq, the military said Wednesday.
The troops were traveling in an armored Humvee when the bomb detonated late Tuesday in the town of Balad-Ruz, some 65 kilometers northwest of Baghdad, according to army spokesman Master Sgt. Robert Powell.
The force of the blast severely damaged the vehicle, killing one soldier, Powell said, according to The AP. Three injured soldiers were hospitalized in stable conditions.
Later on Wednesday, Iraqi fighters in Anbar province killed two occupation troops during clashes, the military said.
A spokesman from U.S. military headquarters in Baghdad said U.S. Marine forces clashed with Iraqis in several areas of Anbar province, west of Baghdad, during the day.
The spokesman said initial reports indicated that two "multinational force" members died from wounds received during clashes in the province, while two occupation aircraft were forced to make emergency landings.
The U.S. military also stated that Iraqi fighters launched morning attacks on "multiple" U.S. military camps in Ramadi, and 10 American soldiers were injured.
A military spokeswoman also said that two U.S. aircraft were damaged and one pilot injured by small arms fire. The aircraft were recovered, she added.
The clashes also killed one Iraqi fighter and wounded another, the spokeswoman said.
Elsewhere, a fierce battle between Iraqi resistance fighters and Iraqi soldiers fighting alongside occupation forces in the south-central city of Suwariyah on Wednesday has left seven Iraqi soldiers and 35 fighters dead, a spokesman for the occupation said.
Another 10 soldiers from the Iraqi security forces were wounded in the joint operation with U.S. Army special forces and Ukrainian troops, said Polish Lt. Col. Artur Domanski, a spokesman for the occupation forces in the area.
In addition to those resistance fighters killed, some 40 were also taken prisoner, Domanski said.
Meanwhile, in the northern city of Kirkuk on Wednesday, gunmen in a car shot dead local policeman Udai Saddam as he waited for a taxi to get to work, Iraqi police official Col. Sarhat Qadr said. The attackers fled the scene.
Qadr also said that two men trying to plant a bomb on an oil pipeline near Kirkuk were killed early Wednesday when the explosive device detonated prematurely in their hands. (albawaba.com)
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