Three U.S. soldiers have been killed in a roadside bombing in eastern Baghdad, the military said in a statement on Sunday.

Three soldiers from the 89th Military Police Brigade were killed and another one wounded on Saturday when their vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device in eastern Baghdad, the statement said.

The names of the three are being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

The latest deaths bring the number of U.S. fatalities in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion to 2,968, according to media count based on Pentagon figures. At least 79 U.S. soldiers have died in December alone.

Source: Xinhua