BAGHDAD, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Three U.S. soldiers were killed in two separate incidents in northern Iraq, the U.S. military said on Wednesday, the latest casualties in what has been the deadliest year of the war for U.S. forces.

Two soldiers died and four were wounded when they were hit by a roadside bomb in restive Diyala province northeast of Baghdad on Tuesday, the military said in a statement.

Another soldier was shot and killed near the volatile city of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad.

Their deaths take the total of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq to 3,863, according to the independent Web site icasualties.org, which tracks military and civilian casualties in Iraq.

U.S. military and Iraqi civilian casualties have dropped sharply in the previous two months, with a boost of 30,000 extra troops and the growing use of neighbourhood Iraqi police units being credited for the declines.

However, about 860 U.S. troops have been killed so far this year, more than the previous worst yearly total of 849 in 2004. (Reporting by Paul Tait; Editing by Dean Yates)

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