BAGHDAD (AP) - The death of an American soldier in Baghdad has made it the bloodiest week for U.S. troops in Iraq this year.

The U.S. military says the American soldier was killed by a roadside bomb this morning in northwestern Baghdad.

The death raises the number of American troops killed in Iraq since last Sunday to at least 19.

American casualties have risen with an outbreak of fighting in Baghdad between U.S. and Iraqi forces and the militia of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The military did not say whether Shiite militiamen were responsible for today's bombing.

Al-Sadr has called for American soldiers to leave the country and is urging his fighters not to target fellow Iraqis unless they are helping what he calls the U.S. "occupation."

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Date published: 4/12/2008