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US death toll in Iraq nears 2004 level
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-31 18:11
Two more U.S. soldiers were killed in Iraq as the year
wound down Friday, putting the American military death toll at 841 so far ¡ª just
five short of 2004's lost lives despite political progress and dogged efforts to
quash the insurgency.
Firefighters turn over a vehicle as they try
and douse the fire after a bomb explosion in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday Dec.
30, 2005. A suicide car bomber and a mortar killed six people and injured
23 people in two separate attacks Friday in downtown Baghdad, police said.
The suicide car bomber blew himself up next to a police patrol in a
commercial area on al-Kifah street, killing three Iraqi civilians and
injuring two police officers. [AP] |
Violence continued on Saturday with gunmen raiding a house near Iskandariyah,
30 miles south of Baghdad, and killing five members of a Sunni family, army Col.
Hussein Sheyaa said. A roadside bomb also exploded in Baghdad, killing five
policemen, 1st Lt. Nadum Nuaman said.
In addition, five members of the Iraqi Islamic party died when a roadside
bomb exploded near their headquarters in Al-Khalis, 10 miles east of Baqouba,
police said.
In Baghdad, hundreds of cars lined up at gas stations as word spread that
Iraq's largest oil refinery shut down two weeks ago because of threats of
insurgent attacks. Nearly three years after the U.S.-led invasion, a fuel crisis
again threatens to cripple a country with the world's third-largest proven oil
reserves.
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