BAGHDAD (AFP) — An American soldier was killed when a grenade exploded near his patrol in restive Nineveh province in northern Iraq on Friday, the US army said in a statement.
The military did not give any further details on the incident.
The death took the number of US troops killed in the conflict-torn nation in May to 22, the highest monthly toll since last September.
Nineveh's capital is Mosul city, considered the centre of insurgent activity in Iraq.
According to an AFP count based on the independent website icasualties.org, 4,304 American troops have been killed since the 2003 US-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein but sparked a deadly insurgency.
The US army is only one month away from a June 30 deadline to pull out of Iraqi cities and major towns ahead of a full-scale withdrawal by the end of 2011, as mandated by an accord between Baghdad and Washington.
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