Suicide bomber kills U.S. soldier, 4 Iraqis

updated 12:47 p.m. ET Aug. 10, 2008

BAGHDAD - A suicide bomber targeted U.S.-Iraqi forces north of Baghdad on Sunday, killing an American soldier and four Iraqi civilians, the military said.

The bomber struck as the troops were responding to a roadside bomb that had wounded an Iraqi civilian in Tarmiyah, a Sunni town 30 miles north of Baghdad, the military said.

Two American soldiers and their interpreter also were wounded, it said.

Witnesses interviewed by the soldiers said the roadside bomb was planted by two young men wearing ski masks, said Lt. Col. Steve Stover, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Baghdad.

"The suicide bomber struck after the U.S. soldiers responded," Stover said, adding that Iraqi police and members of U.S.-allied Sunni groups also were at the scene.

At least 21 Iraqis also were wounded, including three Iraqi policemen and three members of the local awakening council, as Sunni groups working with U.S. forces are known.

Stover said al-Qaida in Iraq was believed to be responsible for the attack.

It was the deadliest in a series of attacks on security forces and civilians in Baghdad and surrounding areas on Sunday as militants seek to undermine recent security gains.

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