WASHINGTON, Jan 11: The number of US soldiers killed in Iraq has topped 500 as the Pentagon confirmed on Sunday that 504 have died in the nearly 10 months since the US-led coalition invaded the country.

The Pentagon added the nine killed when a UH-60 Blackhawk went down in the Iraqi town of Fallujah on Thursday, and another fatality to the total.

On Friday, the defence department said 494 had died, including 342 in hostile fire and another 152 due to non-combat incidents, including accidents and suicides.

Pentagon spokesman Megan Grafton said that in addition to the nine killed in Fallujah, another soldier was killed in a mortar attack January 7 in Baghdad. The number of injured in Iraq since March 20, 2003, is 2,849, with 2,461 wounded in combat, according to the Pentagon.-AFP