The Beat Goes On - U.S. Soldier Killed South of Baghdad

[wilheim]

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A U.S. soldier was killed and three others were wounded in an attack south of Baghdad, the military said Saturday. A Marine died in a non-hostile incident.


The military said the soldiers' vehicle was "ambushed by a vehicle-born improvised explosive device" in Mahmoudiyah, 20 miles south of Baghdad. The statement did not say when the attack occurred.


Two of the injured soldiers were evacuated to a combat hospital. The third wounded soldier returned to duty after treatment.


All the casualties were from the U.S. Army's 1st Armored Division.


The name of the slain soldier was withheld pending notification of next of kin.


The military also said the Marine, assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, died Friday near Camp Fallujah, west of Baghdad, while "conducting security and stability operations."


"The Marine's death is classified as non-hostile," a military statement said. The death was under investigation.


The name of the Marine and the slain soldier were withheld pending notification of next of kin.



AP News.

 

[wilheim]

As of Friday, May 21, 790 U.S. service members have died since the beginning of military operations in Iraq last year, according to the Department of Defense. Of those, 575 died as a result of hostile action and 215 died of non-hostile causes. The department did not provide an update Saturday.

The British military has reported 58 deaths; Italy, 18; Spain, eight; Bulgaria, six; Ukraine, four; Poland, three; Thailand, two; Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia and the Netherlands have reported one each.
Since May 1, 2003, when President Bush declared that major combat operations in Iraq had ended, 652 U.S. soldiers have died — 466 as a result of hostile action and 186 of non-hostile causes, according to the military's numbers as of Friday.

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