BAGHDAD, Oct 25: The US military death toll in Iraq passed 2,000 with the announcement on Tuesday that a soldier had died in a Texas hospital of wounds from a bomb.

The unwelcome milestone was expected to spur new calls for President George Bush to outline an exit strategy for the Iraqi conflict.

The Pentagon said Staff Sergeant George Alexander, 34, had died on Saturday of injuries sustained eight days ago when a roadside bomb set by insurgents blew up near his vehicle in the town of Samarra.

More than 15,000 US troops have been wounded in action.

Casualties among Iraqis have been far higher, first in the invasion and then the insurgency that elections and Oct. 15’s constitution referendum have failed to calm.

BLASTS: Iraqi guerillas, who struck in dramatic fashion on Monday with a triple suicide bomb attack on a Baghdad hotel used by foreign journalists, set off new blasts on Tuesday in Baghdad and the normally tranquil city of Sulaimaniya, killing at least 15 people in total.