BAGHDAD, Sept 17: A US soldier from the 101st Airborne Division died of gunshot wounds while another four US troops were wounded in two separate attacks on coalition forces in Iraq, the US military said on Wednesday.

A spokesman said the soldier died of non-hostile gunshot wounds on Tuesday but no other details were immediately available. Three soldiers, also from the 1st Armoured Division, were injured when their convoy was attacked at Dorah on the southern outskirts of Baghdad late on Tuesday.

The spokesman said a fourth soldier from the 4th Infantry Division was wounded when his convoy came under fire from rocket-propelled grenades on Tuesday at Balad.

The US-led coalition’s top spokesman in Iraq Lieutenant Colonel George Krivo said American troops had carried out 24 raids and 1,240 patrols over a 24-hour period spanning on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Another three Iraqi policemen were wounded and seven people arrested after a clash erupted as officers tried to chase off a group of street vendors near the main shrine in Najaf.—AFP