US steps up Baghdad deployment
Thousands more US troops are being deployed to Baghdad
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Monday, 07, Aug 2006 10:26
Thousands more US troops have today arrived in Baghdad in an effort to bring the continuing violence in the Iraqi capital under control.
US defence officials have sent about 4,000 reinforcements to the worst-hit areas of Baghdad as they strengthen their attempts to stop insurgent suicide attacks and car bombings.
Members of the 172nd Stryker Combat Team have been moved from the northern city of Mosul to the capital and will join the estimated 50,000 US-trained Iraqi security forces in quelling the insurgency.
Patrols of particularly violent areas were stepped up over the weekend but violence in the war-torn country has continued, with a suicide bomb attack in Tikrit, in the north of Iraq, leaving at least ten people dead.
Fighting in Baghdad's Sunni-dominated Sadr City also continues, with clashes between militia forces and security personnel reported yesterday.
Three American soldiers died yesterday after a road bomb exploded to the south-west of the capital.
The Stryker team is named after the armoured vehicle the troops use, considered as one of the most effective ground vehicles in the US army's repertoire.
US secretary Donald Rumsfeld recently extended the brigade's tour of duty in Iraq by four months and sent them from Mosul to Baghdad.