U.S. death toll in Iraq reaches 4,000

BAGHDAD — Four U.S. soldiers were killed when a bomb hit their vehicle in southern Baghdad late Sunday, bringing the number of U.S. military personnel killed in the Iraq war to 4,000.

The grim milestone came at a time when attacks against the U.S. military are ebbing and officials have claimed significant progress against Iraq's deadly insurgency and sectarian violence. It was reached about 10 p.m. on a day when more than 60 Iraqis were killed and dozens injured in attacks in Baghdad and north of the capital.

The U.S.-protected Green Zone in Baghdad also came under heavy mortar or rocket fire. There were no immediate reports of casualties inside the fortified enclave, but Iraqi police said a number of the projectiles missed their apparent target and caused casualties in neighboring districts.

When the 1,000th American died in September 2004, the insurgency was gaining steam. The 2,000-death mark came in October 2005 as Iraq voted on a new constitution. The Pentagon announced its 3,000th loss on the last day of 2006 — a day after Saddam Hussein was hanged and closing a year marked by rampant sectarian violence.

The deaths taken by U.S. soldiers in Iraq, however, are far less than in other modern American wars. In Vietnam, the U.S. lost on average of about 4,850 soldiers a year from 1963-75. In the Korean War, from 1950-53, the U.S. lost about 12,300 soldiers a year.

There have been about 15 soldiers wounded for every fatality in Iraq, compared with 2.6 per death in Vietnam and 2.8 in Korea.

Two factors have helped bring down violence in recent months: a self-imposed cease-fire by a main Shiite militia and a grass-roots Sunni revolt against extremists.

But commanders often say there is no guarantee the trends will continue. Among the concerns: the strength of breakaway Shiite factions believed armed by Iran, and whether Sunni fighters will remain U.S. allies or again turn their guns on American troops instead of al-Qaida.

In Sunday's worst attack, a suicide bomber blew up a tanker laden with explosives at the entrance to an Iraqi army base in Mosul, a northern city described by the U.S. military as the last urban stronghold of Sunni militants loyal to the group al-Qaida in Iraq.

At least 12 Iraqi soldiers were killed and 30 others injured along with 12 civilians, said army Brig. Gen. Mohammed Ahmed.

Another suicide car bomber attacked an Iraqi army checkpoint in Mosul, killing one officer and injuring 10 other people, police said.

Militants pounded the capital with at least 16 rockets and seven mortar rounds Sunday, including three barrages aimed at the Green Zone, the Interior Ministry said. U.S. officials did not immediately say who was responsible for the attack, but typically they blame rogue elements of radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr's Mahdi Army militia for such attacks.

Sadr has ordered the militia to stand down until August, a move U.S. officials credit with helping to reduce violence in Iraq. But a series of clashes with U.S. and Iraqi security forces in Baghdad and south of the capital in recent days has frayed the truce.

Shiite neighborhoods also were hit in Sunday's rocket and mortar fire, which police said killed at least 13 people and injured 29, suggesting Sunni militants may have been firing rounds.

Gunmen in three cars sprayed bullets at commuters waiting to board minibus taxis, killing seven people and injuring 16 others in the mostly Shiite southeastern neighborhood of Zafaraniya, police said.

In the northwestern Shiite neighborhood of Shula, police said a suicide car bomber attacked a line of people waiting for gasoline, killing seven of them and injuring 12.

Police in Baghdad also recovered the bodies of six people killed execution-style.

Northeast of the capital, two police officers were killed in drive-by shootings in Baqubah and Balad Ruz in Diyala province, police said. Two other policemen were injured in the Baqubah attack.

U.S.-led forces traded fire with suspected insurgents during an operation east of Baqubah targeting members of a suicide bombing network, killing 12 people, the military said in a statement. Assault weapons, ammunition, grenades and military-style vests were discovered at the site. Iraqi police and hospital officials put the toll at 15 and said the victims included women and children.

South of Kirkuk, a roadside bomb exploded near an Iraqi military convoy, killing four soldiers, police said.

In other developments, the U.S. military said it had verified the identities of six people killed in a helicopter strike near Samarra the previous day and determined that none of them were members of a U.S.-backed neighborhood guard force known as the Sons of Iraq. An Iraqi army commander and a local guard leader had said the men were manning a Sons of Iraq checkpoint.

The decision of tens of thousands of mostly Sunni Arab fighters to defend their neighborhoods against the insurgents they once backed or tolerated was another decisive factor in the ebb in violence. But tensions are building after a series of mistaken U.S. strikes against the guards.

Information from The Associated Press is included in this report.