BAGHDAD, Iraq – A roadside bomb killed seven U.S. soldiers in northwest Baghdad, and two Marines were killed in western Iraq on Thursday, the deadliest day for American forces since a suicide attack on a U.S. base last month.
The bombing came as Iraq extended a state of emergency by 30 days to battle militants whose attacks have surged ahead of this month’s elections. The prime minister warned the number of assaults would only rise as voting day draws closer.
Just three weeks before the Jan. 30 elections, the commander of U.S. ground forces in Iraq acknowledged that security is poor in four of 18 Iraqi provinces. But Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz told a briefing in the capital that delaying the vote would only increase the danger.
“I can’t guarantee that every person in Iraq that wants to vote, goes to a polling booth and can do that safely,” Metz said. “We’re going to do everything possible to create that condition for them, but we are fighting an enemy who cares less who he kills, when he kills and how he kills. A delay in the elections just gives the thugs and terrorists more time to continue their intimidation, their cruelty, their brutal murders of innocent people.”
The soldiers with Task Force Baghdad were on patrol Thursday evening when their Bradley fighting vehicle hit the explosive, the military said. Everyone inside the Bradley was killed.
The two other U.S. Marines killed in action Thursday were both members of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force and lost their lives in Anbar province.
Thursday’s toll was the highest for the U.S. military in Iraq since a suicide bombing at a mess tent in Mosul on Dec. 21 killed 22 people, including 14 U.S. soldiers and three American contractors.
Meanwhile, Iraqi authorities made some grisly discoveries. Police in the southern city of Basra found two charred and beheaded bodies in a house used by election officials. Police also announced they found the bodies of 18 young Shiites executed last month after seeking work at a U.S. base.
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