Two US occupation soldiers were killed in central Iraq, as the top US military confirmed Washington was negotiating to keep some occupation troops in Iraq beyond a pullout scheduled this year.

Two US occupation soldiers were killed in central Iraq, as the top US military confirmed Washington was negotiating to keep some occupation troops in Iraq beyond a pullout scheduled this year.

"Two US service members were killed Thursday while conducting operations in central Iraq," said a brief statement by the US military on Friday, which did not mention how or where they had died.

Thursday’s deaths were the first since June the deadliest month for American troops in the country for three years.
In June, 14 US soldiers were killed in Iraq, most of them in rocket attacks, making it the deadliest month since June 2008 when there were 23 fatalities.

The full number of American military fatalities in Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion has reached 4,471, according to an AFP count based on the website www.icasualties.org.

OCCUPATION FORCES TO STAY BEYOND PULLOUT
The incident came as Admiral Mike Mullen, confirmed Washington was negotiating to keep some occupation troops in Iraq beyond a scheduled year-end pullout.

About 46,000 US soldiers remain in Iraq, down from a high of 170,000 since the invasion.
All are due to pull out by the end of this year according to a 2008 pact, but Mullen said Thursday that Washington and Baghdad were negotiating to keep some US forces in the country beyond the December 31 deadline.

"The negotiations are ongoing and it's hard," Mullen told reporters at a Pentagon Press Association luncheon.

His comments marked the first high-level confirmation from the US military that talks were underway on the politically charged subject, which faces some stiff opposition in Iraq.

Mullen said the discussions were addressing both the size of a possible US military mission as well as the capabilities that Iraqi forces lacked.