Five US soldiers killed in separate Iraq attacks

BAGHDAD, May 25 (Reuters) Five US soldiers were killed in four separate attacks across Iraq yesterday, most of them by roadside bombs, the US military said today.

The US military also reported the death of another soldier on Tuesday in a roadside bomb attack near Tikrit, 175 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad.

May is on track to be one of the bloodiest months for the US military since the invasion to topple Saddam Hussein in 2003, with more than 90 killed so far.

April was the worst month this year for the US military, when 104 soldiers were killed.

The total death toll for the US military since the invasion now stands at 3,440.

In the worst attack yesterday, two soldiers died when their patrol was hit by a roadside bomb in western Baghdad. An Iraqi interpreter was also killed and another US soldier was wounded, the military said in a statement.

Another soldier was killed by a roadside bomb near Tikrit in Nineveh province, with two others wounded in the same attack.

The military had earlier reported the deaths of one soldier from small arms fire in volatile Diyala province north of Baghdad and another from a roadside bomb in Salah Ad Din province.

The US military has said it anticipated it would suffer more casualties when it launched a security crackdown three months ago, pouring thousands of extra troops into Baghdad and other areas.

The crackdown is seen as a last-ditch attempt to drag Iraq back from the brink of all-out sectarian civil war between majority Shi'ites and Sunni Arabs who were dominant under Saddam.

REUTERS GT VV1243