Roadside bombs kill 4 US soldiers in Iraq

In the first incident, a roadside bomb struck a patrol in southern Baghdad around 10:30 a.m., killing one American soldier assigned to Multi-National Corps Iraq, the military said in a statement.

Then, an improvised explosive device targeting a patrol in northern Iraq at approximately 11:40 a.m. killed three soldiers also with the Multi-National Corps Iraq, the military said.

The death raises to at least 4,343 the number of members of the US military who have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003.

There were also Iraqi casualties on Tuesday. A roadside bomb killed Lt. Col. Zaid Hussein Khalaf, the head of an anti-terrorism police unit, and four of his bodyguards in a northern Iraqi town that is home to a large Shiite population.

The attack in the town of Armili targeted a convoy carrying Khalaf, who leads the local police force's anti-terrorism section, said Brig. Sarhat Qader of the police in Kirkuk, a city farther north.

Also Tuesday, a roadside bomb struck a police patrol near the town of Daqouq, killing two policemen and wounding three others, Kirkuk police said, Kazinform cites Arab News. See www.arabnews.com for full version.