BAGHDAD, Jan 27: At least three US soldiers were killed and one wounded when a roadside bomb exploded in Khaldiya, west of Baghdad, on Tuesday. Witnesses said there were also several Iraqi civilian casualties.

"The last report I have is that three soldiers were killed and one wounded," a US spokesman said. A news photographer in the town said he saw civilian cars on fire. Soldiers blocked off a road leading to the site, and a large column of black smoke rose into the air. Since the US-led invasion of Iraq in March, at least 517 American soldiers have died, 358 of them in combat.

CNN WORKERS: Two Cable News Network (CNN) employees were killed in an ambush in Iraq on Tuesday, the US television station said. A translator/producer and a driver were killed when their two-car convoy was returning to Baghdad from an assignment, a CNN anchor said on the air.