Bloody Thursday for US Military in Iraq
Reuters

January 6, 2006

   Baghdad - Thursday was one of the bloodiest days for US forces in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, with 11 soldiers dying in a fresh spasm of violence that also killed 130 Iraqis, the US military said on Friday.

    Roadside bombs, favored by the insurgents but feared by US soldiers for their devastating effectiveness, accounted for seven of the American deaths.

    US commanders have expressed concern in recent months at the growing use of more powerful and sophisticated bombs.

    US President George W. Bush and his Republican party face pressure at home over the rising American death toll, but the president said on Wednesday a cut in troops would be based on the situation on the ground and decisions by military commanders, not a timetable imposed from Washington.

    The United States hopes the formation of a coalition government encompassing leaders of Iraqi's Shi'ite, Kurdish and Sunni Arab groups after last month's election will help undermine the Sunni Arab-led insurgency and pave the way for a troop withdrawal.

    Thursday's deaths take the number of US fatalities since the start of the war to oust Saddam Hussein to 2,193, according to Reuters figures.

    It was the highest daily US death toll since December 1, when 11 US soldiers were also killed, and was also the deadliest day in Iraq overall for four months.

    In Thursday's worst incident for the Americans, five soldiers died in Baghdad when a roadside bomb hit their patrol. Two more were killed in a similar incident elsewhere in Baghdad.

    Al Qaeda in Iraq said it was behind one bombing in north Baghdad which it said destroyed a US military vehicle and killed its crew, according to a posting on an Islamist Web site.

    "Your brothers shall continue their jihad (holy war) in fighting the enemies of God ... until victory or martyrdom," said the Web site statement attributed to al Qaeda.

    In Fallujah, a Sunni Arab stronghold, two Marines were killed by small-arms fire in separate attacks, the US military said in a statement on Friday.

    Two US soldiers and scores of Iraqi police recruits were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up in the western city of Ramadi as 1,000 men queued to be security-screened at a glass and ceramics works used as a temporary recruiting center.

    Hospital sources said 70 people died and 65 wounded.

    Thursday's suicide bombers killed 123 people and wounded more than 200 in all in attacks near a Shi'ite holy shrine and the Ramadi recruiting station.

    Bush said on Wednesday a reduction of US troops planned after the December election was under way and would result in a net decrease of several thousand troops below the pre-election level of 138,000.

    He has refused to set a schedule, saying that would only embolden the enemy, and that a pullout would be dictated by the progress of Iraqi forces in taking over security.