BAGHDAD, Oct. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- A US soldier was killed in an ambush in a restive area north of Baghdad on Thursday, the US military said.

    "An anti-Iraqi forces rocket-propelled grenade attack on a combat patrol killed a First Infantry Division soldier south of Balad," a city some 90 km north of Baghdad, the military said in a statement.

    The attack took place at about 12:40 p.m. (0940 GMT), said the statement without giving further details.

    Balad, situated at the heartland of the Sunni tribal area in central northern Iraq, has witnessed more attacks against US forces since Samarra, another rebel hotbed nearby, was stormed last month. Earlier Thursday, the military said a car bomb attack killed one US soldier and wounded two others on a main road in southern Baghdad.

    One or two Iraqi civilians were also killed in the blast, said the US military.

    About 850 US soldiers have been killed in combat in Iraq since the start of the war in March 2003. Enditem