Roadside bomb kills US soldier south of Baghdad

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A US soldier on foot patrol was killed by a roadside bomb south of Baghdad, the military said Saturday. The Multinational Division, Baghdad soldier died after the blast, which occurred Friday while the soldier was conducting a dismounted combat patrol in support of a joint US-Iraqi security operation aimed at quelling sectarian violence in the capital, according to a statement. The soldier's identity was not released pending notification of relatives. The military did not provide more details about the attack but said members of the soldier's unit have detained 16 suspected insurgents in the past week. At least 3,233 members of the US military have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.