Fourteen Marines are reported killed in a roadside bomb blast in western Iraq, the US military said, and an American journalist was found shot dead in the southern city of Basra.

The bomb exploded near a marine amphibious assault vehicle as it was travelling south of Haditha, a town on the Euphrates river about 200km northwest of Baghdad.

A civilian translator was also killed, and one Marine was wounded.

It is the second major attack against marines in the area in the past three days and one of the deadliest attacks against US forces since the beginning of the war.

On Monday, six marines were killed in clashes in Haditha, and a seventh was killed by a car bomb blast in Hyit, southeast of the town.

The western Anbar governorate of Iraq has been one of the deadliest regions for US forces since they invaded Iraq in March 2003.

The towns of Falluja and Ramadi are in Anbar.

In December, 22 people were killed including 14 US servicemen when a bomber blew himself up inside a mess hall at a military base in the northern city of Mosul.

That was the deadliest attack on a US installation since the war.

At least 1820 US troops have died in Iraq since the beginning of the war.

In the past month, more than 60 have died, many of them in Anbar. US forces have launched two major offensives in the area since May to try to crush insurgents.

US journalist killed

The US embassy in Iraq earlier said that an American freelance journalist had been found shot dead in the southern Iraqi city of Basra.

However, Iraqi police in Basra said Vincent was abducted along with his female translator at gunpoint on Tuesday evening. The translator, Nour Weidi, was seriously wounded.

Vincent's body was found on the side of the highway south of Basra later. He had been shot in the head and multiple times in his body, al-Zaidi said.

Police said Vincent, a writer who had been living in New York, had been staying in Basra for several months working on a book.

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US Marine in Iraq. (AFP)