Roadside Bomb Kills One U.S. Soldier in Iraq

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A roadside bomb killed one U.S. soldier and wounded another in northern Iraq (news - web sites) Monday night, the U.S. military said Tuesday.

The soldiers were traveling in a convoy near Tall Afar, about 250 miles northwest of Baghdad, when the bomb exploded. One soldier died while being taken to a nearby hospital by helicopter, the military said.

Soldiers in the convoy fired on several attackers after the explosion but were unable to capture anyone, the military said.

The death brings to around 376 the number of U.S. soldiers killed in action in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion last March which toppled Saddam Hussein.

(Relevant AP news excerpts)

....A soldier from Task Force Olympia was killed and another wounded by a bomb Monday evening in Tall Afar in northern Iraq.

.....Witnesses said two roadside bombs exploded Tuesday outside the Anbar Medical College and hospital in Ramadi in the Sunni Triangle, damaging a U.S. Army Humvee. It was unclear if any soldiers or civilians were injured. A third bomb was defused.

.....Police, meanwhile, arrested five Iraqis suspected in the assassination of Aquila al-Hashimi, a member of the Governing Council who was gunned down Sept. 20 as she left her Baghdad home, the Interior Ministry said.

The men were apprehended 10 days ago in the city of Amarah, 180 miles southeast of the capital, Deputy Interior Minister Ahmed Kadhum Ibrahim told The Associated Press. They were arrested for using drugs but police uncovered "indications" they may have been involved in the al-Hashimi slaying, he said. Police were still investigating.

...In Samawah, 230 miles south of the capital, Iraqi police said an explosion damaged a small video store that purportedly sold pornographic video discs. The pre-dawn explosion caused minor damage and no one was injured, Iraqi police Sgt. Hussan Tohayer said, adding it was the second such blast against a video store in the town since Jan. 22.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040217/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_17

Task Force Olympia

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