American military death-toll in Iraq reaches 4,000
The US military death toll in Iraq has reached 4,000
Monday, 24, Mar 2008 07:51
The number of US troops killed in Iraq has reached 4,000, five years after the country's invasion.
In the latest series of suicide blasts, four US soldiers were killed when their patrol vehicle was blown up in southern Baghdad on Sunday.
The deaths bring the number of US military personnel killed up to a total of 4,000 since March 2003, though the Pentagon has dismissed the significance of the large figure.
"It is artificial in the sense that somehow the 4,000th tragic loss somehow will be different from the first," Rear Admiral Greg Smith told the Reuters news agency.
The Associated Press agency declared that 97 per cent of the military deaths had occurred after US president George Bush declared the Iraq war had been won on May 1st 2003.
Yesterday saw widespread violence in the country, with at least 15 people dying after mortar and rocket attacks on Baghdad's Green Zone; which General David Petraeus has since claimed was backed by Iran.
At least 13 Iraqi soldiers were killed when a suicide bomber blew up a tanker at an army base in Mosul and seven shoppers were killed when gunmen opened fire in a Baghdad market.
The US military declared that it had also killed 12 men during raids east of Baquba.
The last few weeks has seen a considerably increase in the amount of violence in the country, having previously fallen overall since last June.