http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-wodead085286056jul08,0,6906690.story?coll=ny-worldnews-print
World More military deaths 8 Americans, 1 Brit are killed during offensive to pacify Iraq capital so government can quell insurgency THE ASSOCIATED PRESS July 8, 2007 BAGHDAD - The U.S. military reported yesterday that eight more American service members have been killed in fighting in Baghdad and western Anbar province, reflecting the increased U.S. casualties that have come with new offensives in the region. In addition, a British soldier was killed in fighting with Shia militias overnight Friday in the southern city of Basra. Washington has directed the U.S. military to work at pacifying the capital and its surroundings, hoping the calm will give Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government time to take key political steps toward encouraging Sunni Arabs to turn away from support of the insurgency. Attacks have fallen in recent weeks in much of Baghdad, although a suicide car bomber yesterday blasted an Iraqi army patrol in an eastern commercial district, killing five Iraqi soldiers and a civilian, police said. Roadside bombings killed five U.S. soldiers in the capital on Friday and another the day before, the U.S. military said in its latest statements on U.S. casualties. Two Marines were killed in fighting Friday in western Anbar province, it said. In the far south of Iraq, one British soldier was killed and three were wounded when they came under heavy attack by militants in Basra, the British military said yesterday. A soldier from Fiji died in a noncombat related incident, the British military said, but no further information was available, according to the Los Angeles Times. Britain has withdrawn hundreds of troops, leaving a force of around 5,500 based mainly on the fringes of Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, 340 miles southeast of Baghdad. British bases come under frequent mortar attacks from Shia militias. The U.S. has about 155,000 troops in Iraq. According to icasualties.org, an independent, nonprofit Web site that tracks war casualties, 3,601 American troops have died in Iraq since the war began in March 2003 - 23 of them during the first week of July. The British toll is 158 and other coalition forces combined have lost 128. According to Defense Department figures, 35,638 troops had been wounded or medically evacuated from Iraq by the end of June - 29,160 of them Army, 4,186 Marines, 1,279 Air Force and 1,013 Navy.
