Major Mike Birmingham told reporters on the ground that 15 others were wounded, all soldiers. Two of them were in critical condition.

"Of KIA (killed in action), two are soldiers, two are reporters," Birmingham, a military spokesman for the 3rd Infantry Division, said without disclosing their nationalities or affiliation.

"A rocket hit near 2nd Brigade combat team's tactical operations centre," Birmingham said earlier.

Lieutenant Colonel Peter Bayer, operations officer with the division, said 17 US vehicles were destroyed in the attack, all soft-skinned vehicles like Humvees rather than armoured.

"We suspect it (the attack) came from the south, not from the north," he said, adding that the US position struck was 15 kilometres (nine miles) south of Baghdad.

Most of the 2nd Brigade is currently conducting operations within Baghdad, where it was involved Monday in the seizure of three presidental palaces, including Saddam Hussein's main official residence in the heart of the city.

Birmingham said the rocket attack left a "huge crater". Twenty medics travelling with the 2nd Brigade were at the scene to treat the wounded immediately, he said.

SPACE.WIRE