Randy Rosenberg grew up in Berlin.

BERLIN, N.H. (AP) – A soldier who grew up in New Hampshire has died in a vehicle bombing at a U.S. checkpoint in in Iraq, a newspaper reported Monday.

Randy Rosenberg, 23, who grew up in Berlin, was one of three U.S. soldiers killed in the explosion on Saturday, The Berlin Daily Sun reported, quoting family members and friends.

The attack happened in Khaldiyah, some 70 miles west of Baghdad, near a bridge across the Euphrates river, the U.S. command said. Six other soldiers were wounded.

Witnesses said a four-wheel drive vehicle, possibly driven by a suicide bomber, exploded in front of a U.S. Army Humvee trying to block it. At least eight Iraqis also were wounded, they said.

“It shook the whole area,” Emad Ghareb Hamid said. U.S. troops sealed off the area while ambulances and helicopters evacuated the casualties.

Rosenberg was a 1998 graduate of Berlin High School. He entered the military soon after high school. At the time of his death, he was stationed in Texas, with his wife, Misty, the Sun reported.

“Randy was a nice kid,” said Gorham Police Chief Ron Devoid, who coached Rosenberg in junior high hockey.

Corey Reindeau, who played hockey with Rosenberg, said he was very popular at school. Both Devoid and Reindeau said he was very rugged. “He was a strong boy,” Reindeau said.

Khaldiyah is part of the Sunni Triangle, the area in central Iraq where most of the anti-U.S. attacks by die-hard Saddam Hussein loyalists have taken place. The U.S. military says the attacks have reduced in number since Saddam’s arrest on Dec. 13.

A Defense Department spokesman said he could not confirm the names of the soldiers killed in the attack.

The department’s Web site link listing casualties in Iraq did not provide names of the soldiers as of Monday.

AP-ES-01-26-04 1153EST