Three more American servicemen die in Iraq, making month one of the deadliest of the war
By: QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA - Associated Press BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Three more American servicemen have died in Iraq, the U.S. military said Thursday, putting December on track to be among the deadliest months of the year. The surge in U.S. combat deaths comes as Washington searches for new political and military strategies to contain the flood of violence, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates traveled to Baghdad talking to soldiers and Iraqi officials about the possibility of bolstering U.S. troop strength in Iraq. One soldier assigned to Regimental Combat Team 7 died on Tuesday, and one Marine assigned to 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division died Wednesday, both from wounds sustained in Anbar province west of Baghdad, the military said in a statement. Also Wednesday, a bomb killed an American soldier and wounded three others south of the Iraqi capital, the military said. The soldiers were in a convoy escorting servicemen to base. As of Thursday, 71 American troops had been killed in December with 10 days left in the month -- meaning that it already ranks as one of the four deadliest months for U.S. forces this year. If there is no letup in the violence, the number of deaths will reach or exceed the 105 killed in October, the deadliest month this year. Meanwhile, attacks by deaths squads, bombers and others against Iraqi civilian and security targets continued Thursday. A suicide bomber blew up in the midst of a group of police volunteers in eastern Baghdad early in the day, killing at least 14 people and wounded 21 others, police said. At least two of the dead were policemen. The area around the facility remained cordoned off hours after the attack. Outside a nearby hospital, at least five bodies lay on gurneys and on the ground, covered in blue sheets as Baghdadis walked past. Officials also announced the murder of Iraq's Olympic cycling coach, killed after gunmen kidnapped him from his home. Family members identified the body of 48-year-old Mahoud Ahmed Fulayih at the central morgue in the capital on Monday, two days after he was abducted, said Hussein al-Amidi, the acting secretary general of Iraq's National Olympic Committee. Fulayih's death was only the latest in a string of incidents where Iraqi athletes and coaches have been kidnapped or killed. In an attack in May, gunmen shot and killed the coach of Iraq's Olympic tennis team and two players. Gates talked with Iraqi officials about possible additional military assistance and assured the government of continued U.S. support. Briefing reporters after his session with Iraqi leaders, Gates said the focus of the discussions was "mainly on the overall approach, including the possibility of some additional assistance." He was vague about the type of assistance discussed, and said no specific numbers of extra troops were discussed. In other violence Thursday: -- In the northern city of Mosul, gunmen killed five civilians in separate shootings. -- The morgue in Kut, 25 miles south of the capital, received the bodies of five victims of violence. Two were decapitated, with hands and legs bound, and the other three were pulled from the Tigris river, a morgue official said. -- Two women were killed and one child was injured when mortar rounds landed in a Shiite area south of Baghdad, police said. -- A car bomb in Baghdad killed two civilians and wounded two others, police said. Iraqi insurgent snipers gaining skill, frustrating U.S. forces By: WILL WEISSERT - Associated Press RAMADI, Iraq -- Spc. Brent Everson was just a few steps from safety. The 22-year-old from Florence, Mont., was climbing out of a tank, near the entrance to a U.S. outpost called Sword when a sniper's 7.62-millimeter bullet hit him just above his Kevlar vest, tearing into his shoulder and through his back. He fell back into the tank -- wounded but alive. On the roof of the outpost, Army gunners returned fire. But the sniper probably already was gone. "This guy knew what he was doing," said Staff Sgt. Jeremy Gann, who like Everson is assigned to Company C of the Army's 1st Battalion, 37th Armor Regiment. "You get some guys with rifles who wake up and just want to take shots at Americans. But they don't aim around body armor," he said, speculating that the sniper's gun had a telescopic sight. Everson was taken by helicopter to a hospital north of Baghdad and survived. He was the fourth sniper victim since September among 40 soldiers assigned to Sword, a sandbagged mansion in south-central Ramadi. All were hit within a few yards of the outpost. A problem since the start of the war, soldiers and senior officers say the threat from snipers has intensified in recent months. Insurgent gunmen have honed their skills and acquired better equipment, notably night-vision rifle scopes to target U.S. troops after the sun goes down. For Marines and soldiers targeted by the gunmen, the shots chip away at their morale, one crack of a rifle at a time. "People are just tired of this. They're frustrated," said Sgt. Benjamin Iobst, who lives at Sword. "It's like trying to find a fly in a forest." Iobst said the problem in Anbar Province has become so serious that military experts recently visited Sword to study snipers in the area, in hopes of developing ways to counter the threat. Lt. Gerard Dow, the highest-ranking soldier at Sword, said Americans usually move through Ramadi at night to minimize the risk. But now some gunmen use night-vision scopes so they can strike anytime. "We know the best ones have it," he said. During a week of interviews, soldiers at Sword spoke repeatedly about the snipers outside their gates. Subsequent discussions with Marines and commanders across Anbar revealed that the threat is widespread. Maj. Matthew Van Wagenen, executive officer of 1st Battalion, 37th Armored Regiment, said Saddam Hussein loyalists in exile in Syria and Jordan have funded training programs for snipers. "You have simple gunmen getting paid to take shots, but you also have midlevel leadership who can drive all over Anbar, moving in and out of town whenever they want," Van Wagenen said. The U.S. military leadership in Baghdad has played down the influx of foreign fighters into Iraq, but many soldiers and Marines in Anbar said they believe the best snipers from all over the Middle East travel to Iraq for the chance to drop an American with a single shot. "We don't even have snipers that good," Iobst said. Some of the snipers learned their basic craft when they served in Saddam's army. But there's also open concern among Americans that the training of the current Iraqi army -- at U.S.-operated camps -- is spreading skills that are turned against U.S. forces. "I don't like the way they fight, but I'd do the same thing if someone was occupying my country," said Cpl. Sean J. Egger, also part of the 1st Battalion, 37th Armor Regiment. Egger was the gunner atop a Humvee near Ramadi's defunct train station in August. The bullet whizzed past him by inches but struck his machine gun, sending shrapnel into his face. Safety glasses spared his vision, but Egger will need surgery after he leaves Iraq to remove a half dozen pieces of shrapnel still lodged in his face. Troops try to make themselves tougher targets for snipers by zigzagging when they walk and never standing in one place for longer than a few seconds. But the best snipers will wait for hours, often near natural obstacles where U.S. troops might be forced to pause. They crouch in alleys, abandoned buildings, or force their way into many homes at gunpoint, firing from holes they punch in walls or windows. They also fire from holes in cars. One gang in Ramadi had vehicle with a bumper rigged so it could be lowered for the sniper inside to squeeze off a few rounds undetected. They shoot once and vanish, picking up their "brass," or rifle casings, and covering the holes from which they fire. Even when they fail to kill, wounding is enough to disrupt military operations for hours, while the casualty is evacuated. And the subsequent search for the sniper is usually an exercise in frustration, sometimes impossible to contain. Shortly before midnight after Everson was hit, 20 Americans and six Iraqi soldiers left Sword to sweep through homes just to the east, the possible origin shot. Much of Ramadi is without power after dark and the few remaining residents near Sword were huddled by candlelight in their living rooms when the angry soldiers broke down their doors. "Yes, yes," they breathed with terrified voices -- it was all the English they knew. In some homes, soldiers demanded information through an interpreter without doing much damage. In others, they broke windows, overturned couches and ripped pictures off the wall as they searched. Iraqi troops casually tossed lit cigarettes onto woven carpets. "You know when somebody comes in and shoots at us! You know who the outsiders are!" bellowed Lt. Dow. "Tell us!" "I am a taxi driver," stammered Wabeel Haqqay, who lives with his elderly father. "I am gone all day and know nothing." As is often the case, no one offered any information on the sniper and insisted insurgents come from other parts of the city. But on the roof of an abandoned house, soldiers discovered a hole, cut into a wall and concealed by cinderblocks. It yielded a perfect view of Sword and was just big enough for a rifle and scope. A line of soldiers kicked the crumbling brick wall until it gave way. "Feels good, doesn't it?" Dow grinned. 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