Baghdad, Iraq ? An American soldier died in a rebel ambush and two others were killed in bomb explosions Friday, one of the bloodiest days for the U.S. military since the Dec. 13 capture of Saddam Hussein.

Two of the deaths occurred in Baqouba, a center of guerrilla activity northeast of Baghdad in a Sunni Muslim area that served as a power base for Saddam, the former Iraqi dictator. U.S. forces, who have a base in the town, often conduct raids and arrest suspected insurgents.

One of the U.S. soldiers killed Friday was in a U.S. convoy that came under attack, said Capt. Jefferson Wolfe of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division. Another soldier was injured, but troops fired back, killing two attackers, he said.

In a separate incident in the same area, a soldier tried to defuse a homemade bomb, but it blew up and killed him, Wolfe said. Such bombs are a favored weapon of rebels, who leave them on roadsides and detonate them as military convoys pass.

The guerrillas used that tactic Friday in Balad, north of Baghdad, setting off a bomb that killed one soldier, the U.S. military said.

In the capital, a car exploded on the road to the airport, killing its two occupants. U.S. soldiers at the scene said they suspected the two men were bombers whose bomb exploded prematurely.

Further north, three soldiers from the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division were wounded in an ambush in Mosul when their convoy came under small arms fire, said Maj. Trey Cate, the division spokesman.

The soldiers, who were searching the city’s streets for bombs, returned fire but did not catch their attackers, Cate said. Witnesses claimed a taxi driver was killed in the firefight, but the spokesman could not confirm the report.

On Thursday, Iraqi insurgents shelled an American base in Baqouba, 30 miles northeast of Baghdad, killing two U.S. soldiers, the military said.

Four other soldiers were wounded in the attack, Maj. Josslyn Aberle of the 4th Infantry Division said.

A total of 11 U.S. soldiers have died from hostile action since Monday.