Soldier dies after bomb explosion in Baghdad

Two soldiers were wounded in the attack on a Humvee on Wednesday, but one later died, bringing to at least 156 the total number of United States soldiers killed in action in Iraq since George Bush, the US president, declared an end to major combat on 1 May.

In Fallujah, residents said three further US casualties occurred after a roadside bomb hit a vehicle yesterday.

The US military had no immediate word on the attack, which left a crater in the main street of the town west of Baghdad. Witnesses said they believed one US soldier had been killed and two injured in the attack.

They said three Humvees had been passing when a bomb on a traffic island exploded, hitting the rear vehicle.

"I saw the gunner who had been standing on top of the last Humvee with a large piece of shrapnel in his head," one resident claimed. "Two soldiers checked him and he seemed to be dead, so they put him in the back of another Humvee."

Jubilant young Iraqis gathered around the bomb crater, beneath a sign reading "Welcome to Fallujah", and jumped for joy. "Bush, Bush, listen well, you are not worth your shoes," they chanted. "Fallujah has hit America."

Meanwhile, US troops were holding at least two Iraqis suspected of involvement in the crash of a Black Hawk helicopter, which is believed to have been shot down last Friday, killing all six US soldiers on board.

The two Iraqis were detained during raids on Tuesday in Tikrit by the 10th Cavalry Regiment of the 4th Infantry Division and were being interrogated, said Lieutenant-Colonel Steven Russell.

The Black Hawk crashed near the Tigris river. The US military has not released an official finding into the cause of the crash, but Lieutenant-General Ricardo Sanchez, the commander of the US forces in Iraq, said that he believed the aircraft was shot down.

Iraqi police have also detained a number of suspects, US officials said.