US military deaths 'overtake' 9/11 toll
The US military death toll in Iraq has reached 2,974, one more than the number of deaths in the September 11 2001 attacks, it is reported today.
The US military announced the deaths of two soldiers in an explosion south west of Baghdad yesterday.
Those deaths raised the number of troops killed to 2,974 since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The September 11 attacks claimed 2,973 victims in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
“The joint patrol was conducting security operations in order to stop terrorists from placing roadside bombs in the area,” the military said in a statement on the latest deaths.
“As they conducted their mission, a roadside bomb exploded near one of their vehicles.”
Another soldier was wounded in the explosion, the military said.
Earlier, the US command had announced the deaths of two other soldiers and a Marine. It said one soldier died and two were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near a US military vehicle in southern Baghdad yesterday.
An American soldier and a Marine died on Sunday from combat wounds suffered in Anbar province, the military said.
Before the latest deaths, the AP count was 15 higher than the US Defence Department’s tally, last updated on Friday at 10am. At least 2,377 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military’s numbers.
The British military has reported 126 deaths; Italy, 33; Ukraine, 18; Poland, 18; Bulgaria, 13; Spain, 11; Denmark, six; El Salvador, five; Slovakia, four; Estonia, Netherlands, Thailand, two each; and Australia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Romania, one death each.
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