April in Iraq: 5th straight month of 80+ U.S. war dead

WASHINGTON — At least 104 U.S. troops died in Iraq in April, capping the deadliest six-month period for U.S. forces since the war began more than four years ago.

The military announced on Monday the deaths of five soldiers over the weekend. That made April the deadliest month so far this year and the sixth-deadliest of the war. It also brought to five the number of consecutive months when the American death toll has surpassed 80, the longest such stretch of the war.

So far this year, 348 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq, compared with 124 during the first four months of 2006. Fighting in March and April 2003, when U.S. troops invaded Iraq and marched to Baghdad, killed 139 troops.

Top military leaders, who had predicted that U.S. casualties would rise as U.S. forces moved from huge bases outside Baghdad to outposts in the city as part of a new plan to secure the capital, offered no comment on April's death toll.

Statistics gathered by Iraq Casualty Count, which tracks U.S. casualties based on official announcements and media reports, show that since the U.S. began moving more troops into Baghdad on Feb. 15, the capital has surpassed Anbar province as the deadliest location for American forces.

Roadside bombs remained the No. 1 cause of death, killing 65 Americans during the month.

Today, the fourth anniversary of President Bush's declaration that "major combat operations" in Iraq had ended, Congress is expected to send to the White House a war-funding bill that for the first time would set a deadline for the administration to begin withdrawing troops.

Other developments

A suicide bomber struck a crowd of funeral mourners Monday north of Baghdad, taking more than 30 lives. Bombings and shootings nationwide Monday (including the funeral attack) killed at least 102 people.

Explosions rocked central Baghdad in the evening, apparently from rockets fired toward the U.S.-controlled Green Zone. The U.S. military said it had no immediate information about damage or casualties.

Egypt, which is hosting an international conference on Iraq this week, wants delegates to call for a three-month cease-fire between Iraqi forces and insurgents, according to a draft resolution. But Iraq strongly objected to the idea on Monday.

Seattle Times news services

Bush has promised to veto the bill, and a Pentagon spokesman defended the current strategy of pumping 28,000 additional troops into Iraq.

"Most people would tell you that the surge is working," said Maj. Stewart Upton, a Pentagon spokesman.

Last week, Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said during a visit to Washington that sectarian murders had dropped by two-thirds since the surge began. But he also acknowledged that overall violence hadn't declined, and statistics gathered by McClatchy Newspapers show the number of bombings in Baghdad increased in the past month, to at least 389 in April from 323 in March.

Of the Americans killed in April, the greatest number, 55, died in Baghdad. Twenty-two died in Anbar and 17 in Diyala province, according to Iraq Casualty Count, whose Web site can be found at icasualties.org. In March, when the death toll was 81, 37 died in Baghdad.

Upton said the U.S. death toll traditionally is high in April. The U.S. has conducted major operations in four of the five Aprils that U.S. troops have been in Iraq. Those operations include the 2003 invasion, an offensive in Fallujah in 2004, another into the restive Baghdad enclave of Sadr City in 2005, and this month's surge.

The most recent deaths include those of three American soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter who were killed by a roadside bomb Sunday in eastern Baghdad.

In Anbar, a Marine was killed on Sunday.

On Saturday, a U.S. soldier was killed in Baghdad by small-arms fire.

In all, 3,351 troops have been killed in Iraq, according to an Associated Press count.