Blasts kill soldier, four contractors

BAGHDAD —  An American soldier was killed Tuesday when a roadside bomb struck his vehicle west of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

The military also reported the deaths of four private contractors in a similar attack the previous day in northern Iraq. Eight contractors were injured in that bombing, about 15 miles south of the city of Mosul.

It did not disclose the nationalities of the contractors, and local authorities had no additional information on the incident. The military also provided no further information on the attack that killed the soldier.

At least 4,115 American service members have died since U.S.-led forces invaded Iraq in March 2003, according to the independent website icasualties.org.

The number of attacks nationwide has dropped to its lowest level since 2004, according to the U.S. military. But commanders regularly warn that militants remain a threat.

In other violence, a bomb targeting a police patrol in central Baghdad killed one person and injured four, police said.

Elsewhere in the capital, at least 12 people were injured when guards opened fire to disperse a crowd of demonstrators seeking welfare payments from a government office.

In northeast Baghdad, eight mortar rounds were fired at a U.S.-Iraqi security station, injuring an American soldier and an interpreter, the U.S. military said.

The military also disputed a police account of a bombing Monday in the city of Baqubah. Iraqi police had reported that a female suicide bomber killed nine people and injured 12. The military said the explosion was caused by a bomb planted in a women’s clothing store, which it said killed one Iraqi woman and injured 16 people.

The reason for the discrepancies was not clear.

--

[email protected]

Special correspondents in Baghdad contributed to this report.