Four American soldiers die in Iraq

A roadside bomb killed a pair of US Army soldiers and two others were killed by small arms fire during combat operations in Iraq, the military said today.

Two Task Force Lightning soldiers assigned to 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, died yesterday when an improvised explosive device detonated near a vehicle they were riding in while conducting combat operations in Diyala province in north-eastern Iraq, the military said. Two others were injured in the blast and taken to a military medical treatment facility.

Also yesterday, another solider from Task Force Lightening assigned to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division was shot and killed by small arms fire while in action in Diyala.

On Tuesday, a soldier from the Army’s Multinational Corps-Iraq was killed by small arms fire during an operation in Baghdad, the military said.

The killings raised the number of American war dead to 2,862.

So far this month, 44 American service members have been killed or died in Iraq.