3 US soldiers killed in south Iraq

Three US soldiers were killed in action in southern Iraq on Wednesday, the military said, making June the deadliest month for American soldiers here in three years. "Three US service members were killed Wednesday in southern Iraq," the US military said in a statement on Thursday. "We can confirm that the soldiers were killed in a hostile event," a military spokeswoman said in an email. Since June 1, 14 US soldiers have been killed in Iraq -- making it the deadliest since June 2008, when 23 US soldiers were killed. Sunday's deaths take the overall US death toll since the March 2003 invasion to 4,469, according to an AFP count based on the independent website, www.icasualties.org. Nearly 50,000 American troops are still in Iraq, down from a peak of more than 170,000 after the invasion.