6 U.S. Troops Killed in Iraq in Roadside Bomb Attacks

Five American soldiers were killed near here when a roadside bomb struck their vehicle, the U.S. military said Sunday.

A separate military announcement said a Marine had died of wounds suffered in combat when his vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in Saqlawiya. Both statements said the attacks occurred Saturday.

None of the six were identified, pending notification of relatives. More than 1,975 U.S. service members have died since the war began in March 2003.

Residents of Ramadi said Sunday that heavy fighting had broken out there and that U.S. planes bombed areas in the east of the city, killing 25 people.

The U.S. military said it had no immediate information on that report.

Dr. Bassem Dulaimi at the Ramadi hospital said that he had received 25 dead and eight wounded and that relatives had told him the victims were hit in aerial bombardments.

Residents reported heavy gunfire and clashes in central and eastern parts of the city.

Ramadi, 60 miles west of Baghdad, is the capital of Al Anbar province and a base for the mostly Sunni Arab insurgency.

U.S. forces conducted a series of operations against insurgents around Ramadi and to its west in advance of Saturday’s referendum on Iraq’s constitution.