Ten US marines died on Thursday when a home-made bomb blasted their foot patrol outside Falluja, 56km (35 miles) west of Baghdad, the US military reported yesterday, writes Jonathan Finer in Baghdad.
Eleven other marines were wounded by the explosive, which was fashioned from several large artillery shells, the military said. Seven of the injured have returned to duty.
Separately, the military reported yesterday the deaths of four other service members.
Three members of the Georgia National Guard's 48th Brigade Combat Team were killed in what a statement described only as a "vehicular accident" yesterday afternoon southeast of Ali Air Base in southeastern Iraq. Another military statement said a soldier assigned to the 2nd Marine Division died of wounds received when his vehicle was hit by a rocket during combat operations in Ramadi on Thursday.
The blast near Falluja was the deadliest bomb attack on US forces since August 4th, when 14 marines were killed by a roadside bomb that ripped through their armoured personnel carrier in the western city of Haditha.
A year ago last month, US and Iraqi troops levelled much of Falluja, which had become Iraq's main insurgent stronghold, in the largest offensive waged since the 2003 invasion.
Since the assault, military commanders and local politicians there said it had become one of the safest and most stable cities in Anbar province, the heartland of the country's Sunni Arab-led insurgency. While large-scale attacks have been few in recent months, insurgents however have re-established a presence in the city, soldiers interviewed there said this week.
- (Washington Post service)