Road blast, shelling kill three soldiers in central Iraq

By Los Angeles Times

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All three deaths occurred Friday, the same day another U.S. soldier died when an American observation helicopter downed by insurgents west of Baghdad, but were not immediately disclosed by the Army.

Two of the soldiers were killed when an "improvised explosive device," or IED, detonated near their vehicle as their patrol passed by, a military spokeswoman said. The bomb was set beside a road just south of the Iraqi capital, in the same general area that had come under heavy U.S. bombardment overnight.

The mortar attack, which left one soldier dead and two others wounded, occurred late Friday at one of the Americans' largest bases in Iraq, near the town of Balad, about 50 miles north of Baghdad.

Insurgents launch frequent nighttime mortar attacks on U.S. bases, particularly those to the north and west of the capital, but a fatal strike on the heavily fortified American encampments is a rarity. The attackers are generally unable to aim at any particular target within a base, and simply lob shells over the perimeter fences in hopes of scoring a hit.

The soldier died of shrapnel wounds from a mortar shell that struck troops' living quarters, said a spokesman for the 4th Infantry Division. After the attack, troops rushed out to hunt the assailants and arrested six people, said the spokesman, Sgt. Robert Cargie.

On or since May 1, when President Bush declared that major combat operations in Iraq had ended, 345 U.S. soldiers have died — 215 as a result of hostile action and 130 of nonhostile causes, according to the Defense Department's figures.

Since the start of military operations March 20, 483 U.S. service members have died, 330 of as a result of hostile action.

Material from The Associated Press is included in this report.

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