US soldier and interpreter die in Iraq attack

An American soldier and his Iraqi interpreter were killed in a grenade and small arms attack in northern Baghdad today, the US military said.

It brought to 152 the number of US troops killed in action since the war started on March 20 – five more than during the 1991 Gulf War.

Two American soldiers and an Iraqi employee of a UN-linked relief agency were killed yesterday.

They died in an ambush by attackers using rocket-propelled grenades and small arms near Tal Afar, a town west of the northern city of Mosul.