Many US soldiers killed in Iraq

[XXPANTHAXX]

Saturday 30 April 2005 10:59 PM GMT

Seven US soldiers have been killed and six wounded in Iraq in
the past 48 hours, the US military said.

The military said a bomb attack on a convoy killed four US
soldiers in Tal Afar city, 150km east of the Syrian border,
on Thursday. Two soldiers wounded in the attack were treated
at a combat hospital.

Two US soldiers were killed on Friday when a patrol struck a
homemade bomb in the western part of the capital, the
military said in a statement. Nine suspects in a nearby house
were detained.

In western Iraq, a soldier was killed on Saturday by gunfire
in Khaldiyah, 120km west of Baghdad. The soldier was assigned
to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Marine Division, II
Marine Expeditionary Force.

The names of the deceased soldiers are being withheld pending
notification of next of kin.

Elsewhere, four US soldiers in a convoy were wounded when
their Humvee rolled into a ditch late on Friday night near
Abu Ghraib prison, west of Baghdad.

Iraqi civilians killed

At least 1586 members of the US military have died since the
beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to the
independent Iraq Coalition Casualty Count website, citing
official Pentagon figures.

At least 1199 died as a result of hostile action, according
to the US Defense Department.

Meanwhile, three Iraqi civilians were killed on Saturday in a
rocket attack in Falluja, the US military said in a statement.

"Three Iraqi civilians were killed and one wounded after
insurgents fired at least seven rockets into the city of
Falluja from outside the city," the statement said.

In the afternoon, anti-US fighters fired at least two mortar
rounds at a southern Falluja district, the US military said.
No casualties were reported in that attack.

According to the independent website Iraq Body Count, between
21,000 and 24,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed as a
result of fighting since the start of the war.