BAGHDAD, Iraq – An American soldier was killed in a roadside bombing north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said Friday, making April the deadliest month for American forces in Iraq this year.
Also Friday, American troops, acting on tips from Iraqi intelligence, killed the reputed al-Qaida boss of Samarra, where a Shiite shrine bombing two months ago nearly plunged the country into civil war.
The latest American death, which occurred Thursday evening, brought the number of U.S. troops who have died this month in Iraq to at least 69.
Although that figure is well below some of the bloodiest months of the Iraq conflict, it marks a sharp increase over March, when 31 American service members were killed. January’s death toll stood at 62 and February’s at 55. In December 2005, 68 Americans died.
Reasons behind the rising U.S. deaths were unclear, and U.S. military officials have cautioned not to interpret cyclical changes as the beginning of a trend. Some U.S. officers have suggested the increase could be because of better weather this month, making it easier for insurgents to launch attacks.
The increase in U.S. deaths comes at a time when the U.S. military says sectarian violence among Iraqis is declining after a sharp rise in the wake of the Feb. 22 bombing in Samarra. That triggered reprisal attacks against Sunni mosques and clerics.
In a briefing Thursday, Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch told reporters sectarian attacks in the Baghdad area had fallen by 60 percent last week, diminishing fears of civil war.
That could also indicate militants were shifting their attacks on U.S. and Iraqi forces, their traditional targets throughout the three-year insurgency.
Al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi warned in an Internet video this week that U.S. “dreams” in Iraq “will be defeated” and “what is coming is even worse.”
The raid on the purported al-Qaida in Iraq safehouse took place about nine miles north of Samarra, U.S. officials said. The target of the raid, Hamadi Tahki al-Nissani, was killed when he tried to escape, a U.S. statement said.
Associated Press
A U.S. Marine pays his respects Friday in Fallujah, Iraq, to Lance Cpl. Stephen Perez of San Antonio, Texas, who was killed April 13 in a mortar attack west of Baghdad.
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