Two US service members were killed Thursday while conducting operations in central Iraq. - AFP (File Photo)

BAGHDAD: Two American soldiers have been killed during operations in central Iraq, the US military said on Friday.

“Two US service members were killed Thursday while conducting operations in central Iraq,” said the brief statement, which did not mention how or where they had died.

The latest deaths come after 14 US soldiers were killed in attacks in June, the deadliest month for American military fatalities since 2008.

The latest deaths bring the full number of American military deaths in Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion to 4,471, according to an AFP count based on the website www.icasualties.org.

Nearly 50,000 US soldiers remain in Iraq, down from a high of 170,000 since the invasion, which toppled Dictator Saddam Hussein.

All of them are scheduled to pull out by the end of this year, according to a 2008 pact, but Washington has been lobbying Iraqi leaders to allow a small contingent to remain beyond 2011 due to Iraq's still tenuous security situation.