US soldier killed in convoy attack

A US soldier was killed and three were wounded in a rocket-propelled grenade attack on their convoy east of Baghdad, the military reported today.

The soldier, killed late Friday, was the 52nd to die in combat in Iraq since US President George W Bush declared major combat over on May 1.

So far,167 soldiers have died in the Iraq War, 20 more than during the 1991 Gulf War.

The Arab satellite television broadcaster Al-Jazeera reported that one US soldier also died this morning in an attack north of the capital, but the military said it had no details on the incident.

The military also announced today that US soldiers, firing in self-defence, had killed a woman on Friday who was standing near where attackers dropped an explosive device from an overpass onto the US convoy below.