4 US soldiers killed by suicide car bomb in Iraq

By HADEEL AL-SHALCHI and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writers

5 mins ago
 
BAGHDAD – A suicide car bomber struck a U.S. patrol on Monday, killing four American soldiers and an interpreter in the northern city of Mosul, the military said. It was the deadliest single attack against U.S. forces in more than nine months.

The explosion took place near a police checkpoint in a volatile Sunni area of Mosul, according to Iraqi police. The U.S. military has described Mosul as the last urban stronghold of al-Qaida in Iraq. The city has also seen a recent rise in ethnic tensions amid a power struggle between Kurds and Arabs.

The U.S. military said three soldiers were killed at the site, and that another soldier and an interpreter died later of wounds from the blast.

An Iraqi police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information, said three Iraqis, including two policemen, also were wounded.

The last time four U.S. troops were killed in a single attack in Iraq was May 2, 2008, when four Marines died during combat in Anbar province, a former insurgent stronghold west of Baghdad.

At least 4,243 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.