Attack, roadside bombs leave 4 U.S. soldiers dead

By Seattle Times news services

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BAGHDAD, Iraq — Two U.S. soldiers were killed and four wounded when their patrol came under attack in the northwestern city of Mosul, the military said today.

The soldiers, part of the U.S. Task Force Olympia based out of Mosul, were attacked at about 3 p.m. yesterday, according to a military statement. The deaths raise the total number of U.S. soldiers killed yesterday to four.

A roadside bomb in Baghdad killed a U.S. soldier and wounded five others yesterday, while another U.S. soldier was killed by a roadside blast near the northern town of Baquba.

Two other U.S. soldiers died in a suicide bombing of their post near the Jordanian border Friday.

Roadside bombs, or improvised explosive devices, have killed about 30 percent of the U.S. troops who have died in action in Iraq. Thousands more have been wounded by the devices.

Mosul has witnessed a recent upturn in violence as insurgents intensify efforts to destabilize the country ahead of planned Jan. 30 national elections.

Yesterday's toll brought to at least 1,271 the number of U.S. military members to have died since the war began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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