An American soldier died Friday in a traffic accident close to the central Iraqi town of Balad, the U.S. military command said. The soldier was from Task Force Ironhorse, a 30,000-strong unit that started leaving Iraq this week after almost a year in the country, the command said, according to The AP. The accident brings to 546 the number of American service members who have died since the war in Iraq began March 20. In the same region, a bomb blast wounded at least one US soldier travelling in a convoy. A US military helicopter evacuated the Fourth Infantry Division (4ID) soldier after a roadside explosion hit his convoy just south of Balad, Major Douglas Babb told AFP. **CIA's Boss in Baghdad office removed*** The CIA has lately replaced its top officer in Iraq because of serious doubts regarding his ability to lead the station in Baghdad, the Los Angeles Times reported in its Friday edition. American intelligence sources also informed the daily that the CIA has closed several satellite bases in Afghanistan because of "security concerns." A senior U.S. official told the Times the spy agency station head in Baghdad was removed in December after deadly attacks against American troops and Iraqi civilians. "There was just a belief that it was a huge operation and we needed a very senior, experienced person to run it," the official was quoted as saying by the Times. According to the newspaper, the CIA's Baghdad office is now the biggest in the agency. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Rabbi Chaim Rogoff from the East Brunswick Jewish Center shovels dirt onto the coffin of US Army 2nd Lt. Seth Dvorin, a soldier from the 10th Mountain Division, at the cemetery in Marlboro, NJ on February 10, 2004. (REUTERS/Chip East)