Fierce clashes erupt across Iraq

A string of attacks by Iraqi resistance fighters has left one US soldier dead and killed at least 12 in clashes elsewhere in the country.

The soldier was killed in Ramadi, west of Baghdad, the US military said on Wednesday. In Baghdad, five Iraqis were killed and four US contractors were wounded when an explosives-laden car blew up in the path of a US convoy just outside the Green Zone. Earlier, three separate US convoys were also attacked in other parts of the city, including one near the international airport in western Baghdad. In one the blasts, a US military oil tanker was set ablaze in eastern Baghdad.