Iraqi security forces inspect the site of a car bomb at a market in the oil rich city of Kirkuk, north of Baghdad. A powerful car bomb rocked central Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 25 bystanders, wounding more than 75 and destroying a row of shops in a busy commercial district.(AFP/Marwan Ibrahim)
An Iraqi firefighter walks past the wreckage of a vehicle at the site of a car bomb at a market in the oil rich city of Kirkuk, north of Baghdad. A powerful car bomb rocked central Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 25 bystanders, wounding more than 75 and destroying a row of shops in a busy commercial district.(AFP/Marwan Ibrahim)
Iraqis inspect destruction at the site of a car bomb at a market in the oil rich city of Kirkuk, north of Baghdad. A powerful car bomb rocked central Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 25 bystanders, wounding more than 75 and destroying a row of shops in a busy commercial district.(AFP/Marwan Ibrahim)
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7 American troops are killed in Iraq
General sees hope in this month's decline in deaths
By Ned Parker
July 27, 2007
BAGHDAD, Iraq
The U.S. military announced the deaths of seven American troops yesterday, hours after the No. 2 U.S. commander said a decline in the number of fatalities this month is an indication that an increase in American forces is having a positive effect.
After three consecutive months in which more than 100 U.S. soldiers died, Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno said casualty figures appeared to be going down. However, he said he needed more time to see whether the trend would continue.
Before Odierno spoke, 63 U.S. troops had been reported killed this month in Iraq.
"We've started to see a slow but gradual reduction in casualties, and it continues in July," Odierno said at a joint news conference with Iraqi military commander Maj. Gen. Aboud Qanbar. "It's an initial positive sign, but I would argue we need a bit more time to make an assessment whether it's a true trend."
Odierno said he thought the decline could be traced to the U.S. military taking back terrain in Baghdad, a belt of land around the southern fringe of the capital, and northeastern Diyala province, where it had little presence before the start of its Baghdad offensive in February.
"We topped out in May in casualties and we kind of predicted that because we went into areas that we had not been in for a long time, and they were safe havens established by the extremists," Odierno said. "Going into these areas, we knew it would be tough in the beginning. We've now taken control of these areas."
About 30,000 additional U.S. troops have flooded Baghdad, taking up residence in neighborhoods as part of Washington's strategy to stabilize the country.
The U.S. military deaths included a soldier killed in a gunbattle in southern Baghdad on Wednesday. The military said three Marines and a sailor were killed Tuesday in Diyala, the site of a major campaign in June and July to reclaim the provincial capital, Baqouba, from Sunni militants.
A soldier was killed in a bomb blast Tuesday in Baghdad, and a Marine died Sunday of non-combat injuries in western Anbar province.
The string of deaths was a reminder that the casualty total could rise before the end of July or in subsequent months. For instance, 72 soldiers were killed in September, but the toll rose to 106 the next month.
Military expert Andrew Krepinevich, president of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, said that some groups might be in a tactical retreat.
"The Shia may be giving us a 'pass' on attacking U.S. forces, deciding to wait out the surge and letting domestic U.S. opinion do the job of getting American forces out of Iraq for them," he said.
The decrease in fatalities could also be the result of a new partnership between U.S. forces and Sunni tribes, but he said that alliance could easily unravel.
Thirty-eight troops have died this month in Baghdad province, far fewer than the 59 who died in the capital in June. However, that total still is more than in any month before October 2006, when 44 soldiers were killed there.
In other developments, Odierno said that rockets and mortars aimed at the Green Zone, home to the U.S. Embassy and the Iraqi government, were being fired with increased accuracy in the past three months. He blamed Iran for supplying the weapons and training the Shiite militants behinds the attacks. His comments echoed remarks by U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Iraqi officials.
On July 10, at least 35 mortars and rockets pounded the fortified enclave, killing at least three people, including an American, and wounding 18.
Elsewhere in Baghdad, a parked garbage truck packed with explosives blew up yesterday near a market in the prosperous eastern Karrada district, killing at least 25 people and wounding 77, said hospital and police officials. Two small children were among the dead.
The blast leveled a four-story building and an adjoining house, burying people in rubble. Hassan Abdul-Kareem, 31, who owns a clothing shop about 300 yards from the explosion, said the building housed apartments, private clinics and offices.
"The market was pretty active at the time of the explosion," he said. "There were many burned victims. The street had puddles of blood and the air smelled like burned flesh."
Another car bomb exploded by a restaurant in the oil-rich northern city, Kirkuk, killing five people and wounding 51, said police Brig. Gen. Sarhad Qadir.
Ned Parker writes for the Los Angeles Times.
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