Some 10 US soldier killed in Iraq on Thursday

Some 10 US soldiers were killed and at least 5 others injured in different incidents of fighting with Iraqi militants on Thursday, according to the US military.

Eight US soldiers were killed and 4 others wounded Thursday by a car bomb south of Baghdad, a military spokesman said.

"Today at 11:30 am, coalition forces were operating in the vicinity of Mahmudiyah when they were attacked by a car bomb," the spokesman said.

He added that all of the victims were US army personnel, who are part of a military convoy moving through the area when the car exploded.

Earlier in the day, a spokesman of the 1st Infantry Division said that a US soldier was killed and another wounded Thursday when a roadside bomb exploded near their convoy northeast of the capital.

The explosion took place outside the town of Baqouba, some 60 kilometers northeast of the capital, the spokesman added.

Meanwhile, one US soldier was killed in the east of Baghdad after gunmen open fire on the US troops by rocket-propelled grenadeshortly before dawn on Thursday, a military spokesman said.

But he did not give any further details about the incident.

Over 130 US soldiers have died so far in Iraq in April alone, most of whom were killed in action, more than the death toll during the six weeks of "major combat" with Saddam Hussein's forces last spring.