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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

U.S. casualties spike in April


An Iraqi policeman patrols Baqouba, Iraq, on Friday after two days of fighting  that erupted when insurgents attacked five police checkpoints, a police station and an Iraqi army headquarters. 
 (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Associated Press The Spokesman-Review

BAGHDAD, Iraq – An American soldier was killed in a roadside bombing north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said Friday, making April the deadliest month for American forces in Iraq this year.

Al-Qaida’s No. 2 leader issued a video saying that hundreds of suicide bombings in Iraq have “broken the back” of the U.S. military – the latest in a volley of messages by the terror network’s most prominent figures.

Ayman al-Zawahri, an Egyptian militant believed to be hiding in Afghanistan or Pakistan, said that U.S. and British forces had bogged down in Iraq and “have achieved nothing but loss, disaster and misfortune.”

American troops, acting on tips from Iraqi intelligence, meanwhile, killed the reputed al-Qaida boss of Samarra, where a Shiite shrine bombing two months ago nearly plunged the country into civil war.

The latest American death, which occurred Thursday evening, brought the number of U.S. troops who have died this month in Iraq to at least 69.

Although that figure is well below some of the bloodiest months of the Iraq conflict, it marks a sharp increase over March, when 31 American service members were killed.

January’s death toll stood at 62 and February’s at 55. In December 2005, 68 Americans died.

Reasons behind the rising U.S. deaths were unclear, and U.S. military officials have cautioned not to interpret cyclical changes as the beginning of a trend. Some U.S. officers have suggested the increase could be due to better weather this month, making it easier for insurgents to launch attacks.

The increase in U.S. deaths comes at a time when the U.S. military says sectarian violence among Iraqis is declining after a sharp rise in the wake of the Feb. 22 bombing in Samarra. Birds that land in the Silver Valley frequently eat lead-contaminated sedi ment and many die. An annual “die-off” of waterfowl has occurred That triggered reprisal attacks against Sunni mosques and clerics.

The 16-minute video by al-Zawahri, posted today on an Islamic militant Web forum, came within the same week as an audiotape by al-Qaida’s top leader Osama bin Laden.

Al-Zawahri said that al-Qaida in Iraq “alone has carried out 800 martyrdom operations (suicide attacks) in three years, besides the sacrifices of the other mujahedeen, and this is what has broken the back of American in Iraq.”

The video was first obtained by IntelCenter, a U.S. contractor that provides counterterrorism intelligence services to the U.S. government.

A U.S. counterterrorism official, speaking on condition of anonymity in compliance with office policy, said it was part of al-Qaida’s ongoing propaganda blitz to demonstrate the terror group remained relevant.

In a possible sign of a shift, insurgents launched simultaneous attacks Thursday on police stations and checkpoints around Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad.

At least 58 people were killed and 74 arrested in two days of clashes, Maj. Gen. Ahmed al-Awad said. They included 49 insurgents, seven Iraqi soldiers and two civilians, Iraqi and U.S. officials said.