A U.S. soldier was killed in the northern city of Mosul and an Iraqi contractor working with the American military was gunned down in a drive-by shooting Friday west of the Iraqi capital, U.S. and Iraqi reports said. The American soldier, from the Army's Task Force Freedom, was killed and another soldier was injured before dawn Thursday when a troop patrol was hit by a roadside bomb in Mosul, a military statement said. At least 1,439 American service members have died in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion. The slain Iraqi man had been in charge of a road construction project inside the Baghdad International Airport complex that was contracted by the U.S. military, police Lt. Akram al-Zoubaie said. He was shot Friday morning west of the capital on the dangerous desert highway leading to the airport, al-Zoubaie said. Also Friday, a roadside bomb hit an American military convoy in downtown Baghdad, but caused no casualties, witnesses said.
