US military says 1 American soldier killed south of Baghdad

BAGHDAD — The U.S. military says an American soldier has been killed south of Baghdad.

A Defense Department statement released Sunday says the soldier died a day earlier in Babil province.

It was not immediately clear whether the soldier died in a combat operation. The statement gave no additional details about the incident, saying only that it is under investigation.

The name of the deceased soldier was being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

The death raises to at least 4,414 the number of U.S. military personnel who have died in Iraq since the war began in March 2003. That's according to an Associated Press count.