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Iraq explosion kills US soldiers Iraq explosion kills US soldiers
(about 2 hours later)
Four US soldiers have been killed by an explosion south of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, the US military has said.Four US soldiers have been killed by an explosion south of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, the US military has said.
Four other troops were wounded in the incident, which occurred on Saturday.Four other troops were wounded in the incident, which occurred on Saturday.
The military said the soldiers were part of a task force to stop the flow of weapons and militants. No other details were immediately available. The military said the soldiers were part of a task force to stop the flow of weapons and men to both Shia and Sunni militant groups.
The US administration has sent about 30,000 extra troops to Iraq since February, as part of a plan to improve security in and around the capital. The deaths were announced as US and Iraqi forces were reported to have carried out raids in Sadr City in Baghdad and in Kufa further south.
More than 3,000 American soldiers have died in combat since the invasion of Iraq by US-led forces in March 2003. The Associated Press news agency quoted a police officer as saying two civilians had been killed when the joint force backed up by helicopters attacked houses in Sadr City, a Shia stronghold.
AP also showed pictures of damaged vehicles and an apparent pool of blood. Neither the US or Iraqi authorities have commented on the alleged incident.
The agency also says the house of an aide to radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr was raided in the holy city of Kufa, 160km (100 miles) from Baghdad.
Meanwhile hundreds of mourners turned out in Najaf, another holy city, for the funeral of a governor and a police chief who were assassinated on Saturday.
Diwaniya province governor Khalil Jalil Hamza and police chief Maj-Gen Khaled Hassan were returning from a funeral when a bomb exploded beside their convoy.
The governor was a key figure in the Badr Organisation, the military wing of the largest Shia Muslim party, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council.
Security was tight for the funeral in the centre of Najaf.
The US administration has sent about 30,000 extra troops to Iraq since February, as part of a plan to improve security in and around Baghdad.
More than 3,000 American soldiers have died in combat since the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003.