US soldier killed in Iraq

The U.S. military says an American soldier has been fatally shot by an al-Qaida in Iraq extremist. An Iraqi policeman was also killed in the fighting.

The military says the fatalities occurred in the early hours of the morning Tuesday in the restive northern city of Mosul.

A military statement said U.S. and Iraqi security forces were called to a house that an al-Qaida in Iraq member had entered wearing a suicide vest. As they approached the house, they came under small-arms fire.

The military said the soldier's name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

The death raises the number of American service members killed in Iraq to at least 4,179 since the war started in 2003 according to an Associated Press count.