The Iraq conflict claimed the lives of 10 more US soldiers this morning in areas surrounding Baghdad.
A roadside car bomb killed eight soldiers and wounded four more in the town of Mahmoudiya, 40 kilometres south of the capital.
A similar device killed a US soldier and wounded another north of Baghdad. Iraqi police had reported an Iraqi civilian also died in the blast that targeted a patrol in Baquba, 65 kilometres north of the capital, this morning.
Earlier, a US soldier was killed in a rocket-propelled grenade attack in eastern Baghdad shortly before dawn.
The latest deaths bring to 534 the number of US soldiers killed in action since US-led forces invaded Iraq.
With just weeks to go before the US hands over sovereignty to Iraqis on June 30th, US-led forces face increased violence.
New polls showed Iraqi civilian deaths combined with heavy US losses this month have produced slipping support for US President George W. Bush's war plan in both Iraq and among American voters, who go to the polls in November.