U.S. soldier killed in Iraq

A U.S. soldier was killed during a military operation in central Iraq, the U.S. military said Tuesday. "A U.S. service member was killed Monday while conducting operations in central Iraq," a military statement said without giving further details about how and where exactly the incident took place. The name of the deceased is being withheld pending notification of next of kin, the statement said. The latest announcement is the second for U.S. soldiers to be killed so far in Iraq this month. The latest casualty took the overall U.S. death toll in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion to 4,484, according to a media count based on Pentagon figures. On Oct. 21, U.S. President Barack Obama announced that all U.S. troops stationed in Iraq will pull out of the country by the end of this year, and the Iraq War will be over. Under the Status of Forces Agreement signed between Baghdad and Washington in 2008, the United States would pull out all its troops from Iraq by Dec. 31.