4 US soldiers die in Iraq combat

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Four US soldiers have died in combat operations in Iraq, the US military reported Wednesday, pushing the US death toll in four years of war toward 3,500. One soldier, a member of the Multinational Division-North, died of wounds sustained from enemy gunfire Tuesday in Diyala province, north of Baghdad, the military said. A second soldier also was killed in Diyala, where fighting between Sunni Muslim insurgents and American and Iraqi government forces has intensified in recent months as US troops have been reinforced in central Iraq for a new security crackdown. That soldier, from Task Force Lightning, was fatally wounded in an explosion Wednesday in which another soldier suffered nonfatal wounds, the military said.