US soldier killed in Iraq explosion

The US military has announced the death of an American soldier after a roadside bomb went off in Iraq’s northeastern province of Diyala.

“A United States Division-North soldier was killed Tuesday by a bomb explosion in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad,” US military said in a statement issued on Wednesday.

According to the statement, the incident is currently under investigation. Meanwhile, the name of the deceased is being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

The latest death raises to seven the number of fatalities among American soldiers in war-ravaged Iraq during the month of April. The death also brings to 24 the number of US soldiers killed so far this year in the country.

The US army has lost 4,394 soldiers in Iraq so far.

According to data compiled by London-based Opinion Research Business (ORB) and its research partner in Iraq, more than one million Iraqis have died in the country since 2003.

Meanwhile, the United Nations puts the number of those displaced as a result of the March 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq at more than four million. Nearly half of them have fled to neighboring countries, particularly Syria.