Iraqi guerrillas ambushed a US military convoy northeast of Baghdad yesterday killing one American soldier and wounding two, according to the US military.
A spokesman said the soldier from the 4th Infantry Division died when his convoy was ambushed with a roadside bomb and small arms fire in the town of Jalawla, 120 km northeast of Baghdad.
Earlier a US soldier was killed in a rocket-propelled grenade attack in the Iraqi town of Tikrit, the military said.
On Sunday night, a 1st Armoured Division soldier was killed and another was wounded when their M2 Bradley struck a landmine near the town of Baiji in north Iraq.
Meanwhile, a senior US officer in the Tikrit area said former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was believed to have been near his home town recently and was leading resistance to the occupation.
"We have clear indications that Saddam was here recently," said Maj Troy Smith, executive officer of the 1st Brigade of the 4th Infantry Division. "Do I know where he is? No."
Maj Smith added that the fugitive former president might still be in the area around Tikrit, about 150 km north of Baghdad. He declined to provide details but said residents had told US forces Saddam was in the region.
Maj Smith told reporters that the area around Tikrit was the last bastion for Saddam and his supporters. "We feel like we're dealing with Custer's Last Stand of [Saddam's\] Baath Party in this area," he said. "It's really the only area he's got left."