A bomb that exploded south of Baghdad killed three U.S. soldiers and wounded three others Tuesday night, hours after another bombing west of the capital killed three U.S. paratroopers and wounded one, the military said. In addition, two employees of Cable News Network died in a shooting south of Baghdad.

The latest U.S. deaths occurred in a roadside bombing about 8 p.m. Tuesday near Iskandariyah, some 25 miles south of Baghdad, a military statement said. Earlier in Khaldiyah, west of Baghdad, a roadside bomb exploded near an 82nd Airborne Division convoy. Three paratroopers were killed and one was critically wounded, Kimmit told a news briefing in Baghdad. He said a rescue force that rushed to the scene came under small arms fire, but suffered no casualties.

Iraqi hospital staff said two Iraqi civilians also were killed in the ambush — including one shot in the stomach as he stood in his office nearby, hospital staff said.

Another Iraqi, Nameer Mohammed, who said he was standing about 500 yards from the site, claimed American soldiers fired randomly after the blasts.

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Tuesday's killings brought to 519 the number of Americans who have died since the Iraq war began. Most occurred after President Bush declared an end to combat May 1.