Two U.S. Soldiers Killed

"Two soldiers were killed and one wounded," Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted Corporal Todd Pruden as saying, adding that the three were from the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division.

"Their unit was ambushed with rocket propelled grenades (RPGs) and small arms fire near Tall Afar, west of Mosul," in northern Iraq, he said, noting that the attack happened early Sunday.

The soldiers were evacuated to a military hospital but two died of their wounds, he said.

The deaths take to 37 the number of U.S. troops killed in action since the end of major combat operations in Iraq, according to an AFP account.

Meanwhile, three loud explosions were heard on the outskirts of the flashpoint town of Fallujah on Saturday night, July 19.

Shortly after the explosions U.S. helicopters were seen hovering over the town, where a U.S. soldier was killed a day earlier in a roadside bomb blast.

Aljazeera’s ground correspondent, however, that U.S. troops came under mortar attacks, noting that six loud explosions were heard in the town.

U.S. military officials were not immediately available to comment on the explosions.

U.S. troops withdrew from Fallujah on July 11 after mounting and unflinching resistance.