BAGHDAD — Four U.S. soldiers were killed Tuesday in two bomb attacks while on patrol in Iraq in one of the deadliest days for American troops in two months.
In the first incident, military officials said, a soldier was killed when a roadside bomb struck his convoy in southern Baghdad. The U.S. Army did not provide details, but an official from the Iraqi Interior Ministry, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the patrol was on its way back to its base when it was hit between Baghdad and Mahmudiyah, a region south of the capital that was once so dangerous that its inhabitants nicknamed it the Triangle of Death.
Later, three soldiers died after being wounded by an improvised bomb while on patrol in northern Iraq. Iraqi security forces also said a U.S. Army patrol came under fire Tuesday afternoon near the town of Hawijah, southwest of the contested, oil-rich city of Kirkuk. There was no word on casualties.
Northern Iraq remains a dangerous region, home to an insurgency that has proved resilient, even as violence has subsided elsewhere. Bombings, shootings and assassinations are an almost daily occurrence.
Tuesday’s attacks were the deadliest for U.S. troops since June 29, when four soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb south of Baghdad.
August was one of the deadliest months since April, largely because of two huge blasts at the Foreign and Finance ministries that killed at least 100 people and wounded many more.
The spokesman for Baghdad’s security command center, Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, said at a news conference Tuesday that 29 police and army officers, who were among those responsible for security at the ministries, were arrested after the bombings on charges of negligence.
