Iraqi resistance fighters killed two U.S. Marines in western Iraq, the military said Friday, and an Iraqi journalist shot by American troops in Baghdad died of his wounds.
A third U.S. soldier died of injuries suffered after his armored vehicle rolled 200 feet down an embankment into a river.
The attack on the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force occurred Wednesday while it was conducting "security and stability operations" in Anbar province, the military statement said, according to the AP.
A 1st Infantry Division soldier died early Friday from wounds suffered after the Bradley fighting vehicle he was traveling in rolled down an embankment into the Tigris River near Beiji, north of Baghdad.
Army spokesman Maj. Neal O'Brien said the soldier was flown to a U.S. military hospital in Germany for treatment but later died. Another soldier in the vehicle died during Wednesday's accident, and one more remained in critical condition.
The latest deaths brought to 570 the number of American soldiers killed in Iraq since the start of the war last year, according to official US figures.
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
