Two US soldiers killed in Baghdad shootout

Two US Army soldiers were killed and one was wounded during a small arms skirmish with insurgents while transporting a detainee north of Baghdad, the military said today.

A civilian and the detainee were also killed in the incident late last night near Buhriz, a former stronghold of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein about 35 miles north of Baghdad. Five Iraqi police were wounded, the military said.

Iraqi soldiers detained two suspects, the military said. The names of the two dead Americans, who belonged to Task Force Liberty in north-central Iraq, were withheld pending notification of their families.

At least 1,716 members of the US military have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003.