Troop deaths top 9/11 toll

NEW YORK — The number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq has exceeded the death toll in the Sept. 11 attacks: 2,973.

The milestone in Iraq came on Christmas, nearly four years after the war began, according to a count by The Associated Press.

The U.S. military Tuesday announced the deaths of six more soldiers, pushing the U.S. military death toll since the March 2003 beginning of the Iraq war to at least 2,978, five more than the number killed in the Sept. 11 attacks.

The AP count is 17 higher than the Defense Department tally, which was last updated Tuesday.

Tuesday was also a bloody day for Iraqis in Baghdad, where at least 54 civilians died in bombings and police discovered 49 apparent victims of sectarian reprisal killings.

Biden opposes troop surge

WASHINGTON — Incoming Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Joseph Biden, a potential Democratic presidential candidate, said Tuesday he would oppose any effort by President Bush to increase U.S. troops in Iraq as part of a new war strategy.

"I totally oppose the surging of additional troops into Baghdad," Biden, D-Delaware, said Tuesday. He said he plans to hold hearings for his panel next month in a bid to influence the president's decision.

Bush is said to be studying a plan to send up to 30,000 additional troops to Iraq, possibly to help stabilize Baghdad, as part of a new strategy to improve security and stem the escalating violence.

Biden favors beginning a drawdown of U.S. forces and finding a political settlement among Iraq's various ethnic factions.

Also

Ayham al-Samaraie, a former minister of electricity in the Iraqi Cabinet who escaped from a Baghdad prison this month, has arrived in Jordan on a U.S. plane, Jordan's prime minister said Tuesday. Jordanian Prime Minister Marouf al-Bakhit did not elaborate. Lou Fintor, spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, said the U.S. government was not involved in al-Samaraie's escape "in any way." He also denied that al-Samaraie flew out of Iraq on a U.S. plane.

Seattle Times news services