Five US soldiers were killed today in a roadside bomb attack in Baghdad, the US military said today.
Seven other soldiers were wounded in the ambush, which included small arms fire and rocket propelled grenade attacks.
The deaths take the number of US troops killed in Iraq to 99 so far this month, according to icasualties.org, a website that tracks military tolls. That is lower than the 126 US soldiers who died in May but still makes it one of the bloodiest months for US forces in Iraq this year.
President George W. Bush has sent 28,000 extra troops, mainly to Baghdad, to help curb bloodshed and buy time for Shia Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to reach a political accommodation with disaffected minority Sunni Arabs.
A total of 157,000 US troops are now in Iraq. US commanders have warned of increased casualties as more soldiers deploy in and around the capital.