Baghdad ? The U.S. military announced Friday that five more American soldiers were killed in fighting in south Baghdad and Diyala province, as Iraqi officials reported fighting in the insurgent stronghold of Baqouba. The U.S. military denied the Iraqi report.

Three of the Americans were killed Friday when a roadside bomb destroyed their vehicle in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad, the military said. Two others were killed and nine U.S. soldiers were wounded during separate attacks Thursday in southern Baghdad.

At least 58 U.S. troops have been killed this month.

In Baqouba, capital of Diyala, police and witnesses said fighting erupted about 7 a.m. when insurgents attacked U.S. and Iraqi military positions in the city 35 miles northeast of Baghdad.

The spokesman for the Iraqi Interior Minister, Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf, said Iraqi units “backed by multinational forces and U.S. helicopters stormed the terrorist dens” in Baqouba, where fighting has escalated in recent weeks.

“These operations will be continued in Baqouba as part of our operations to cleanse the city,” Khalaf said.

An Iraqi army major said at least six insurgents were killed and both U.S. and Iraqi forces were involved in the fighting. He spoke on condition of anonymity for his personal security.

However, U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Garver said the U.S. command in Baqouba had investigated the report and “we have no indication that anything like that happened” in the city.

The AP asked for U.S. military comment on the fighting, and the spokesman responded about 12 hours later.

Many parts of Baqouba, a major agricultural and commercial center, have been under the influence of al-Qaida and other Sunni insurgent groups for months, and conflicting accounts of violence in the area often circulate.

Travel to the area is dangerous, and independent investigations are impossible.

In New York, ABC News announced that two of its Iraqi staffers were slain late Thursday in Baghdad while driving home from work.

Cameraman Alaa Uldeen Aziz, 33, and soundman Saif Laith Yousuf, 26, were stopped by two cars full of gunmen and forced to get out of their vehicle, ABC said. The two staffers were unaccounted for overnight, and their deaths were confirmed in the morning.

“They are really our eyes and ears in Iraq,” ABC Baghdad correspondent Terry McCarthy said on “Good Morning America.” “Many places in Baghdad are just too dangerous for foreigners to go now, so we have Iraqi camera crews who very bravely go out. … Without them, we are blind, we cannot see what’s going on.”