The US military in Iraq said Sunday that one of its soldiers died in a road accident north of Baghdad - the first troop fatality in August - while two other soldiers were charged with the murder of an Iraqi detainee, dpa reported.
The military said in a statement that the vehicle accident on Saturday, which left another US soldier injured, was under investigation.
The fatality brings to 4,128 the number of US soldiers killed in Iraq since the US-led invasion in March 2003.
In another statement, the military said that Staff Sgt Hal M Warner and 1st Lt Michael C Behenna were charged on Saturday with premeditated murder, assault, making a false official statement and obstruction of justice.
"The charges followed a criminal investigation into the death of Ali Mansur Mohammed, a detainee initially believed to have been released by coalition forces on or about May 16," the statement said.
A pretrial investigation for Warner is due to start on August 15 at a base near Tikrit while the date for Behenna's pretrial investigation has not yet been set.
In other developments US troops transferred security responsibilities in the southern Baladruz area of Diyala province on Saturday, according to a military statement.
"The Iraqis are ready to take over this area. Our people are ready to come back to their homes and support the coalition and Iraqi forces," Baladruz police chief Colonel Faris Radi said.
The volatile Diyala province, stretching from the eastern outskirts of Baghdad to the Iranian border, has been the scene of a major military crackdown against Sunni Arab insurgents.
Renegade groups from the al-Mahdi Army militia of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr are also active in the province, which has a a mixed population of Sunni and Shiite Arabs as well as Kurds and other ethnic minorities.