The attack near Fallujah was the worst on American troops since an Aug. 3 blast killed 14.
By Associated Press
Published December 3, 2005
BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb killed 10 Marines and wounded 11 others on a foot patrol near Fallujah, the U.S. military announced Friday. It was the deadliest attack against American troops in four months.
The ambush occurred Thursday against Marines from Regimental Combat Team 8, based at Camp Lejeune, N.C. The Marine unit has suffered some of the highest casualties of the Iraq war.
The unit's latest losses were among 14 new deaths in Iraq announced by the military Friday. With at least 793 American lives lost since January, 2005 could become the deadliest year for the troops since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003. There were 846 deaths in 2004, and 485 the previous year.
At least 2,124 have died since the beginning of the war, according to an Associated Press count.
The attack in Fallujah came a day after President Bush outlined his strategy for victory in Iraq.
Hours after the military announced its grim news, Al-Jazeera broadcast a videotape and statement in which the kidnappers of four Christian peace activists threatened to kill the hostages - two Canadians, an American and a Briton - unless all prisoners in U.S. and Iraqi detention centers are freed by Thursday.
The roadside bomb in Fallujah, the former insurgent headquarters west of the capital, was fashioned from several large artillery shells, the military said.
Sen. John Warner, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called the ambush a "very serious attack," saying "it appears that this group of Marines had collected - which is always a dangerous thing - in sort of one location."
The military statement said that seven of the wounded later returned to duty and that the rest of the team was conducting "counterinsurgency operations throughout Fallujah and the surrounding area" to improve security for the Dec. 15 elections.
Names of the victims were not released pending notification of their families. The statement also did not give the precise location of the attack - the single deadliest against U.S. troops in Iraq since 14 Marines were killed Aug. 3 when a bomb destroyed their vehicle near Haditha, 140 miles northwest of Baghdad.
Maj. Cliff W. Gilmore, a spokesman at Camp Lejeune for the II Marine Expeditionary Force, said the victims of Thursday's ambush probably came from hometowns across the country rather than from one area.
"Here at Camp Lejeune, we pause, we stop, we feel it, and then we carry on with the mission," Gilmore said.
Also Friday, three U.S. soldiers from the 48th Brigade Combat Team were killed in a traffic accident south of Baghdad, and the military said an Army soldier assigned to the 2nd Marine Division died of wounds suffered the previous day when his vehicle was struck by a rocket in Ramadi, 70 miles west of the capital.
U.S. forces have stepped up military operations throughout the Sunni Arab regions west of Baghdad to cut off the flow of weapons, ammunition and foreign fighters entering the country from Syria and to reduce insurgent activity.
As part of that campaign, the U.S. military on Friday launched a new offensive, Operation Shank, in Ramadi, capital of the insurgent-ridden Anbar province. About 200 Iraqi soldiers and 300 U.S. Marines were taking part in the offensive, the fifth in Ramadi since Nov. 16.
U.S. officials hope the operations will enable Sunni Arabs to vote in the parliamentary elections without fear of insurgent reprisals - which the Americans blame in large part for the Sunni boycott of the January balloting.
Washington hopes a big Sunni turnout will produce a government that can win the trust of the Sunnis, the backbone of the insurgency, and convince more of them to lay down their arms.
However, many Sunni politicians fear that military operations so close to the election will have a negative impact by frightening voters away from the polls and deepening hostility to the Americans and their Iraqi partners.
American commanders say they have been making gains in the war. On Thursday, Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, a coalition operations officer, said suicide bombings declined to 23 in November because of successful military operations west of the capital.
However, U.S. and Iraqi officials have predicted an increase in attacks as the election approaches. As part of security for the vote, Iraq has banned all non-Iraqi Arabs from entering the country.
