Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq

    BAGHDAD, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- An American soldier was killed and four others were injured by an explosion in the volatile province of Diyala, the U.S. military said on Thursday.

    The incident took place on Wednesday while the soldiers were conducting operations in the area, the military said in a statement.

    Diyala province, which stretches from the eastern edges of Baghdad to the Iranian border, has long been the hotbed of insurgency and sectarian violence since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

    Earlier, the military said that a soldier was killed and five other were wounded on Wednesday, when a sophisticated armored piercing roadside bomb exploded in central the capital.

    The names of the soldiers are being withheld pending notification of next of kin, the statements said.

    The latest deaths bring the number of U.S. soldiers who have been killed in Iraq to more than 3,865 since the outbreak of the Iraqi war in 2003, according to media count based on Pentagon figures.