Five killed in suicide attack

A suicide bomber has struck at US and Iraqi forces North of Baghdad today, killing one US soldier and four Iraqi civilians.

The US military says an American soldier and four Iraqi civilians were killed in a suicide bombing north of Baghdad today. According to the military the bomber struck as the troops were responding to a roadside bomb that had wounded an Iraqi civilian in Tarmiyah, a Sunni town 50km north of the capital. It added that two American soldiers and their interpreter were wounded. Lt Col Steve Stover, a spokesman for US forces in Baghdad, said witnesses told soldiers that the roadside bomb was planted by two young men wearing ski masks. "The suicide bomber struck after the US soldiers responded," Mr Stover said, adding that Iraqi police and members of US-allied Sunni groups were also at the scene. At least 21 Iraqis were also wounded, including three Iraqi policemen and three members of the local 'awakening council', as Sunni groups working with US forces are known. Mr Stover said al Qa'eda in Iraq was believed to be responsible for the attack. It was the deadliest in a series of attacks on security forces and civilians in Baghdad and surrounding areas today as militants seek to undermine recent security gains. AP