Three soldiers killed in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Three U.S. soldiers were killed in and around Baghdad on Saturday, the military said in a statement.

One U.S. soldier died north of Baghdad, near the town of Beiji, and the other two were killed in southern Baghdad.

All three were killed when their vehicles hit homemade bombs, an increasingly common cause of death for Americans here. Four soldiers were wounded in the Beiji blast.

Eight U.S. soldiers have been killed by insurgents since Thursday.

At least 2,015 U.S. troops have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to a count by The Associated Press.

Also yesterday, a U.S. paratrooper was killed in Afghanistan when his patrol came under fire in the volatile eastern Khost province, a U.S. military statement said.

The death brought to 203 the number of U.S. troops killed in and around Afghanistan since a U.S.-led coalition toppled the Taliban regime in late 2001 after it refused to turn over Osama bin Laden after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

In the north, gunmen attacked NATO-led peacekeepers as they patrolled in the city of Mazar-e-Sharif on Saturday, killing one British soldier and wounding five others, Britain's Ministry of Defense said.

Also yesterday, the military said an unidentified U.S. soldier serving in Kuwait died in a non-combat incident. His body was found Friday.