Middle East News

One US and three Iraqi soldiers killed north of Baghdad

Jul 18, 2008, 17:37 GMT

Baghdad - One US soldier died after a car accident while three Iraqi soldiers were killed Friday by a suicide bomber in the northern city of Mosul, sources said.

The Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency quoted a statement by the US Department of Defense saying a US soldier died of injuries after a car accident in Nineveh's capital some 400 kilometres north of Baghdad.

The statement did not mention further details, but stated that 'the incident is under investigation.'

The death brings the number of US soldiers killed in Iraq since the US-led invasion five years ago to 4,122, seven of whom have been killed in July.

Also in Nineveh province, three Iraqi soldiers were killed and seven injured Friday when a suicide bomber blew up his explosive vehicle near their patrol north of Mosul, an official Iraqi army source said.

'The powerful explosion destroyed other two military vehicles of the patrol and damaged 10 nearby cars,' the source told VOI.

Meanwhile, a security source in Nineveh province said the final toll of casualties from the late Wednesday suicide bombing in Talafar is 25 people killed and 72 others injured.

Media reports after the blast have said that there were 15 people dead and 94 wounded.

In eastern Baghdad, three civilians were wounded Friday when an explosive device targeted a US patrol, a police source said.