U.S. troop deaths up after drop in July By SALLY BUZBEE, Associated Press Writer

U.S. troop deaths up after drop in July By SALLY BUZBEE, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 18 minutes ago



BAGHDAD - Four more U.S. troops and a British soldier have died in attacks, military officials said Tuesday, in a possible sign that extremists are regrouping after a drop in American deaths last month.

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The spate of recent U.S. deaths — 19 so far in August — seems certain to intensify the debate over U.S. progress to calm Iraq and gain ground against militants ahead of a key September report to Congress.

U.S. deaths had dropped slightly in July to 79 — the lowest monthly tally since 70 were killed in November. Before July, more than 100 American troops died each month in the April-to-June period as the U.S. military struck out at insurgents on dangerous streets and cities across Iraq.

But U.S. commanders say rogue Shiite militias have stepped into the gap left as Sunni insurgents have been pushed back, and are now responsible for most attacks on Americans in Baghdad and surrounding districts. Such a trend would elevate fears that Iraqi forces are not yet able to maintain security even when insurgents are beaten back. Large numbers of Iraqi police are believed also to hold allegiances to Shiite militia groups.

The spike in deaths comes as the overall number of U.S. troops in Iraq has temporarily peaked at its all-time high — nearly 162,000 — as new units arrive to replace those on the way out, the Pentagon said.

U.S. officials also have warned that militants might try for spectacular attacks before the September report — expected to be a high-level military and diplomatic assessment on U.S. strategies in Iraq and what's needed in the months ahead.

Leery of that, Baghdad officials tightened checkpoints and announced plans for curfews and vehicle bans ahead of a mass Shiite religious march planned in the capital later this week. Thousands of Shiite pilgrims — women shrouded in black cloaks and men in traditional white Arab robes — began walking from the country's south and gathering from elsewhere for the march.

Shiite pilgrimages often have been the target of devastating attacks by Sunni insurgents. But some of the devout, like Sami Faraj, a 52-year-old government employee, said they would march nevertheless.

"We do not care about the bombings and the terrorists. We are ready to sacrifice ourselves for the cause and for the sake of the prophet's descendants," Faraj said. He planned to set out with his wife and children from the central Baghdad neighborhood of Karradah to an important Shiite shrine in the northern area of Kazimiyah — at the heart of the pilgrimage — on Wednesday.

The showing of Shiite strength finds Iraq in the middle of a severe political crisis. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki faced new defections from mostly Sunni politicians this week in his unity government.

But al-Maliki, on a state visit to neighboring Turkey, dismissed the mounting criticism of his leadership.

"This will not affect the government," he told The Associated Press in an interview aboard the plane on the way to Ankara.

The political crisis has halted any efforts at progress on key benchmarks the United States sought before the September report, including laws to share oil revenue and reform police and security services.

Further fractures emerged as Iraq's semiautonomous Kurdish government approved a regional oil law that paves the way for foreign investment in northern oil and gas fields even as the national oil law remains in limbo.

The Kurds passed the law in obvious frustration with the central government's inability to even put a draft measure before the national parliament in Baghdad. While it matches a national revenue-sharing measure by allowing the Kurds to keep 17 percent of profits, it also is believed to be far more liberal on foreign investment than Sunni and Shiite leaders are willing to accept.

A hardline Sunni group immediately criticized the move. Sunnis worry they will lose out on Iraq's oil wealth because Shiites and Kurds dominate the current government coalition.

Despite those political troubles back home, al-Maliki appeared to make some progress at calming another storm — Turkey's anger over attacks by Kurdish militants in northern Iraq across the border into Turkey.

Al-Maliki said Iraq's interior minister soon would travel to Turkey to head an effort to find practical ways to prevent the attacks. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the leaders' talks "useful and fruitful" and said they had led to progress on security issues.

American attention, though, seemed likely to focus on the troop deaths.

The attacks against U.S. forces included a powerful roadside bomb that killed three soldiers Saturday south of Baghdad, the military reported Tuesday.

In a separate statement, the military also announced that one soldier was killed and another wounded Monday when their vehicle was targeted by an armor-piercing explosively formed penetrator, or EFP, in a western section of the capital.

Washington has accused Iran of supplying Shiite extremists with EFPs. Tehran denies the allegations.

Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the No. 2 commander in Iraq, told the New York Times in an article published Wednesday that July saw "an all-time high" for attacks on American forces using the EFPs. The devices were used to carry out 99 attacks last month and accounted for a third of the combat deaths suffered by the American-led forces, he told the Times.

Odierno said earlier this week that 73 percent of the attacks that wounded or killed U.S. troops in July were launched by rogue Shiite militiamen receiving arms and training from the Iranians, nearly double the figure in January.

The deadliest recent attack against U.S. forces was reported earlier when a roadside bomb killed four U.S. soldiers Monday in a blast that also wounded 11 in restive Diyala province north of the capital, where Sunni insurgents remain active.

The British soldier died from injuries sustained in a gunbattle Monday in the southern city of Basra, the British Ministry of Defense said.

Although U.S. military deaths dropped in July, a wider accounting of the figures offered a sobering overview.

The daily average for U.S. troop deaths in July was at least 2.55 — higher than the daily averages of 2.25 last year, 2.32 in 2005 and 2.33 in 2004. So far in August, the daily average is 2.71.

This was also the deadliest July for U.S. troops since the war began. In July 2006, 43 U.S. troops were killed in Iraq, and 54 died in each of the previous two Julys.

During the Baghdad curfew, all cars, trucks, motorcycles and carts will be banned from moving in city streets from 5 a.m. Wednesday until 5 a.m. Saturday, said Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, a military spokesman for Baghdad.

The ban would begin at 10 p.m. Tuesday in the Kazimiyah district, where Iraqi security forces already were deployed in force, he added.

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Associated Press writer Sameer N. Yacoub in Baghdad and AP News Research Center in New York contributed to this report.