Attacks on US Troops Get Deadlier

Bigger IEDs and more complex ambushes lead to more US deaths in Iraq
By Dustin Lushing,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 4, 2007 5:07 AM CDT
Attacks on US Troops Get Deadlier
'   (Associated Press)

Iraqi insurgents are using bigger bombs and more sophisticated tactics to kill US troops, reports the Washington Post. While Iraq civilian deaths have dropped 50 percent since the new counterinsurgency strategy was launched in Baghdad, American fatalities compared to the number of wounded have nearly doubled.

Insurgents are planting bigger, deeply buried IEDs, and devising increasingly elaborate ambushes. Roadside bombs cause 70.9% of American casualties. Attacks on Iraqi security forces have declined as both Sunni and Shiite extremists specifically target Americans, says one general. "Extremists on both sides of this thing are trying to make a statement by attacking U.S. troops," he said. (More al-Qaeda in Iraq stories.)

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