Three US soldiers killed in Iraq - US military

BAGHDAD, Dec 25 (Reuters) Three US soldiers have been killed in Iraq, one by a roadside bomb in the capital and two in the restive western province of Anbar, the US military said in a statement today.

The military said a roadside bomb exploded near a mounted patrol in a southern neighbourhood of Baghdad today, killing one soldier and wounding two others.

In Anbar province, heartland of the Sunni insurgency, one Marine and a soldier were killed in combat yesterday, the statement said.

Anbar is the most dangerous region in Iraq for US soldiers.

The deaths brought the US death toll in Iraq to 2,967.

US President George W Bush is expected to announce in January a new strategy to curb violence in Iraq and allow the eventual withdrawal of some 135,000 US troops. The Pentagon says violence in Iraq is now at an all-time high.

REUTERS SP RAI2036