Attacks by insurgents kill 6 U.S. personnel

Six U.S. troops were killed Tuesday in attacks by insurgents, the military said Wednesday, the highest daily death toll for American service members in Iraq since Nov. 2, when eight died.

In Baghdad, a roadside bomb detonated near a U.S. vehicle, killing two soldiers, the military said in a statement.

In Sunni Arab-dominated Al Anbar province, a U.S. soldier and three Marines were killed by insurgents.

None of the victims were identified pending notification of relatives.

The deaths bring to 2,859 the number of U.S. military fatalities in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003. At least nine Iraqis were killed in violence Wednesday. In Baghdad, a suicide car bomber slammed into a crowd of mourners at a funeral in Dora, a neighborhood on the south end of the capital. A city council member and a gas station attendant were killed when gunmen opened fire on the station in the southwest neighborhood of Yarmouk.

In the southern city of Basra, British forces killed a gunman who had allegedly opened fire on them. British gunfire also struck a female bystander, who died en route to a hospital, British army Capt. Tane Dunlop said.

In the northern oil hub of Kirkuk, gunmen killed a traffic officer. And in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad, gunmen killed Iraqi journalist Luma Riadh, according to the Iraqi Assn. for the Defense of Journalists’ Rights.

A statement released by the organization said Riadh had received several threats from armed men who demanded that she quit her job.

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moore1@latimes.com