BAGHDAD, Aug. 18 (Xinhuanet) -- Four US soldiers were killed on Thursday in a roadside bomb attack in the northern Iraqi city of Samarra, the US military said.

   "Four Task Force Liberty Soldiers were killed by an improvised explosive device in Samarra at about 11:15 a.m. (0715 GMT) on Aug. 18," the military said in a statement.

   The names of the soldiers are being withheld pending notification of next of kin, the statement added.

   Samarra, some 110 km north of Baghdad, has long been a bastion of insurgency against US and Iraqi forces.

   Over 1,850 US soldiers have been killed in Iraq since the US-led invasion in March 2003, according to media tally. Enditem