BAGHDAD, Iraq — A U.S. soldier was shot and killed while on patrol in central Iraq early today, the military said.
The shooting took place near the town of Balad, 55 miles north of the capital, said Maj. William Thurmond, a spokesman for the U.S. Army's V Corps.
Thurmond had no further details and the soldier's name was being withheld.
A statement released later by the U.S. military said the soldier was attached to the 4th Infantry Division, which controls Balad.
The attack included small arms and rocket-propelled grenades, the statement said.
There have been a series of hit-and-run attacks on U.S. troops across the central region of the country since the end of ground combat almost two months ago. At least six soldiers have been killed and more than two dozen wounded.
Meanwhile, Iraq's main opposition coalition today denounced a new plan by the U.S.-led administration to delay the convening of a national assembly and election of Iraq's new government, and vowed to go ahead with the convention without American participation.
"The U.S. cannot cancel a conference led by Iraqis," said Entifadh Qanbar, of the Iraqi National Congress.
In a major change, officials from the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority announced Sunday that a new advisory group consisting of 25 to 30 prominent Iraqi political figures would be created to assist the country's administrators.
Originally, plans had called for U.S. administrators to press ahead with the convening of a conference of about 300 participants to draft a new constitution and elect an interim government to replace the ousted regime of former dictator Saddam Hussein.
Last month, L. Paul Bremer, the head of the U.S. occupation authority, said the conference would probably not be convened until mid-July.
The suspension of those plans, which would leave Iraq under occupation rule indefinitely, has angered many former opposition leaders in Iraq.
Qanbar said the so-called Leadership Council — a group of Iraqi political leaders considered the possible core of a new government — had decided Monday to press ahead and convene a meeting of the national assembly.
"Yesterday, at the leadership meeting, it was reemphasized that the conference will go on," Qanbar told reporters at the INC's headquarters in Baghdad.
"The Leadership Council is unified around it," he said. "The national conference is an Iraqi-led effort. This is not an American issue."
The Leadership Council unites seven major Iraqi opposition groups — including two Kurdish parties and the Shiite Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. It has previously cooperated closely with Bremer and his predecessor, retired Lt. Gen. Jay Garner, in efforts to set up a broad-based meeting of all Iraqi political, ethnic and religious factions.
"I strongly believe that Mr. Bremer ... will not stand in the way of the Iraqi people to liberty and democracy," Qanbar said.