WASHINGTON, May 8: A sniper shot and killed a US soldier in Baghdad on Thursday, a Pentagon spokesman said.

“A 3rd Infantry Division soldier was shot and killed by a sniper today in Baghdad,” said Lieutenant Colonel Jim Cassella.

The circumstances surrounding the shooting were not immediately known.

The shooting was the latest in a series of hit-and-run attacks on US patrols in Iraq.

Earlier, a US combat team came under fire during a patrol in Baghdad and returned fire, but no one was injured in the exchange, the US Central Command said. Several people were detained.

On Wednesday, reconnaissance elements of the 3rd Infantry Division killed an assailant after coming under fire with small arms and rocket propelled grenades north of Baghdad.

A convoy from the 4th Infantry Division took enemy rifle and machine-gun fire near Bayji the same day, the command said.

“The unit attacked the enemy positions and captured five individuals, weapons, and other military equipment. US soldiers sustained no casualties,” it said.

A US army military police convoy came under fire on Wednesday evening near Tikrit, the hometown of ousted president Saddam Hussein, the command said. No US soldier was injured in that incident either.

On Tuesday, US Marines killed one person and wounded four in an exchange of fire that led to the capture of 16 people, the command said. The marines sustained no casualties, the command said. —AFP