One US soldier was killed and two were wounded today when a bomb exploded near a road just west of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, US soldiers on the scene said.
The fatality brought to 147 the number of US servicemen killed by hostile fire in Iraqi since the invasion to topple president Saddam Hussein - the same number of troops the United States lost in the 1991 Gulf war over Kuwait.
"We were driving by in a convoy and we heard a big explosion. As the convoy passed that truck over there it blew up," Specialist Jose Colon said.
"One of the men who was injured was angry so he jumped outof the truck and started firing on those bushes. He is lucky because he almost died the other day as well in another truck explosion."
The two wounded men were treated on the roadway. US soldiers stood guard, pointing their machineguns towards the edge of the road and peering through binoculars for other possible attackers.
One soldier put his arm around another and comforted him as he cried while sitting on the barrier that divides the highway. About 40 Iraqis walked out of their neighbourhood and watched.
The blast is the latest in a spate of increasingly bold guerrilla-style attacks. US forces have come under daily attacks in recent weeks which have continued despite a crackdown by US troops in areas to the northeast and north of the capital, once a hotbed for Saddam loyalists.