Tuesday was the deadliest day for the U.S. military in Iraq since the suicide bombing at a mess tent in Mosul on December 21, which killed 22 people including 14 U.S. soldiers and three American contractors.

The three soldiers killed in the capital were with Task Force Baghdad. Two soldiers were wounded in the attack, which occurred at about 11am (local time), the military said in a statement.

Elsewhere, a roadside bomb attack killed one 1st Infantry Division soldier and wounded another near Balad, 80 km north of Baghdad.

And a U.S. Marine assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force was killed in action in western Iraq's restive Anbar province, which includes the former insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.

The Marines do not disclose details of casualties or say exactly where they happened for fear of compromising security.

The identities of all the dead were being withheld until their families can be notified.

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