Nine U.S. soldiers were killed and four others injured in two bomb attacks north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said on Tuesday.

Three Task Force Lightning soldiers were killed and another one was injured as a result of injuries sustained following an explosion near their vehicles, the military said in a statement.

The incident took place when the soldiers were conducting combat operations in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad on Monday, added the statement.

An earlier statement said that six U.S. soldiers were killed and three others wounded on Tuesday when their vehicles hit by a roadside bomb in Salahudin province north of the capital.

The soldiers, assigned to the same unit, were conducting combat operations in volatile predominantly Sunni province, according to the military.

The names of the soldiers are being withheld pending notification of next of kin, it added.

Since the U.S.-led war in Iraq broke out in March 2003, about 3, 180 U.S. soldiers have been killed in the country, according to media count based on Pentagon figures.

Source: Xinhua