BAGHDAD, April 22: The US military on Tuesday announced the deaths of five troops in a series of bombings as a female suicide bomber slaughtered six Iraqis, including five policemen, north of Baghdad.

Two US marines were killed and three others wounded when a bomber slammed his explosives-laden car into a checkpoint near the western Iraqi city of Ramadi at around 7:30am, the American military said.

Two Iraqi policemen and 24 civilians were also wounded in the attack near Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, which was once the symbol of Sunni Arab insurgency against US forces.

A third marine was killed and another wounded in a separate roadside bomb attack in Basra on Monday, the military said in a separate statement.

This is the first US military loss in Basra since Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki launched a crackdown against Shia militiamen there on March 25.

US forces have been sent to Basra to support Iraqi troops after fierce clashes broke out in the port city following the crackdown.

Basra and southern Iraq were under the overall command of British troops who late last year moved into one base near the city airport after handing over the province to Iraqi forces.

Another roadside bomb attack killed two US soldiers “during operations” and wounded another two, as well as three Iraqis, in north-central Salaheddin province on Monday.—AFP