American Iraq troop deaths reach record high
Five more US troops killed in Iraq yesterday made 2007 the deadliest year yet for American forces.
At least 852 US military personnel have died in Iraq so far this year, the highest annual toll since the war began in March 2003, according figures compiled by the Associated Press news agency.
The deaths brought to at least 3,855 the number of US troops who have died since the beginning of the Iraq war. The figure includes eight civilians working for the military.
The grim record was set despite a sharp drop in US and Iraqi deaths in recent months, after the 30,000-strong injection of US forces known as the “surge”.
A military spokesman said Iran appeared to have kept its promise to stop the flow into Iraq of bomb-making materials and other weaponry that Washington says has increased violence and caused many American casualties.
Among the weapons are EFPs, or explosively formed projectiles. They fire a slug of molten metal capable of penetrating even the most heavily armoured military vehicles, making them more deadly than other roadside bombs.
The deputy US commander in Iraq, Lieutenant General Ray Odierno, said last week that there had been a sharp decline in the number of EFPs found in Iraq in the last three months.
The previous worst year for US deaths was 2004 with a total of 850. They were the result of mostly larger, more conventional battles like the campaign to cleanse Fallujah of Sunni militants in November, and US clashes with Shiite militiamen in the sect’s holy city of Najaf in August.
However, the American military in Iraq reached its highest troop levels in Iraq this year of 165,000.
A US military spokesman said: “It’s due to the troop surge, which allowed us to go into areas that were previously safe havens for insurgents. Having more soldiers, and having them out in the communities, certainly contributes to our casualties.”
Death tolls for Americans and Iraqis have fallen dramatically in recent months, as have the number of bombings, shootings and other violence.
At least 1,023 Iraqi civilians died in September; in October, that figure was just 875. The number of US troop deaths dropped from 65 to 36 in the same period, according to statistics kept by AP.
On average, 56 Iraqis, civilians and security forces, have died each day so far in 2007.
