The soldiers were killed in Iraq today when their patrol was hit by a
roadside bomb and then came under small arms fire. The attack, one of
the deadliest against US troops in months, was in Mosul, Iraq's
third-largest city, 390km (240 miles) north of Baghdad.
Today's fatalities come before President George Bush's final state of
the union address, when he is expected to emphasise recent security
gains in Iraq. He will point to declining violence in the country as a
result of the surge in troops he ordered last January, before his 2007
state of the union speech.
