BAGHDAD, Dec. 9 (Xinhuanet) -- Thirty-one US soldiers were injured in a car bomb explosion at the entrance to their base in Iraq's northern town of Tal Afar, al-Jazeera television reported on Tuesday.

    Soldiers at the base fired at the vehicle, but failed to stop it from going through the entrance point, the report said, adding that the explosion appeared to be a suicide bombing.

    The wounded soldiers were affiliated to the US 101st Airborne Division, deployed in the area around the major city of Mosul, 400 km north of Baghdad.

    A military spokesman was quoted as saying that non of the injuries are life-threatening.

    A coalition spokeswoman in Baghdad could not give any information on the incident, which appeared to be the first suicide bombing targeting a US military base in Iraq since US President George W. Bush declared the major combat over on May 1.

    A suicide truck bombing partially destroyed an Italian military base in Nasiriyah, 350 km south of Baghdad, on Nov. 12, killing 19 Italians and eight Iraqis.

    Tuesday morning's car bomb blast came after US officials announced that attacks on military targets were going down while those targeting civilians were increasing.

    They said the escalating terrorist attacks were aimed at isolating American forces from the Iraqi people and soldiers from other countries in the coalition. Enditem

Three Iraqis killed in explosion at Baghdad mosque