Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq     

    BAGHDAD, May 12 (Xinhua) -- An American soldier was killed by aroadside bomb explosion in Baghdad, the U.S. military said Monday.

    The soldier was killed on Sunday night when the blast hit his vehicle during a route clearance patrol in northwestern Baghdad, amilitary statement said.

    The soldier was seriously injured first and quickly transportedto a military medical facility where he later died of his wounds, the statement said.

    The military did not specify the location of the incident, but the area where the attack occurred includes strongholds of Mahdi Army militia, loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose aides struck a deal a day earlier with representatives of the Iraqi government that supposed to end weeks of fighting in Baghdad between U.S.-backed Iraqi security forces and Mahdi Army militia.

    The latest death brings the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion to about 4,075, according to media count based on Pentagon figures.