Two soldiers were killed in a shootout with insurgents when gunmen attacked their patrol in Yusufiyah, southwest of Baghdad.

"They were at a traffic control point, when they took fire from one terrorist in a vehicle," said US military spokesman Sergeant David Abrams.

Another soldier was killed when a patrol struck a homemade bomb in the Baghdad district of Adhamiya and a fourth when a military patrol came under gunfire at a checkpoint northwest of Baghdad.

According to the last update on the Pentagon website Thursday, 2,138 US military personnel have been killed in Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion.