First U.S. death in February

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: A U.S. soldier was killed in a reportedly non-combat incident on Wednesday (Feb. 10), the first U.S. fatality this month, upping the total number of U.S. deaths in Iraq to 4,376, according to the U.S. army in Iraq on Thursday. “The non-combat incident is pending investigation,” said the U.S. army in a statement received by IraqiNews.com news agency. The statement did not give further details. The death has brought to 4,376 the number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, including 150 killed in 2009. The number also increases to 10 the number of fatalities in 2010, including six in “non-combat” incidents. Five were killed in January 2010, four in December 2009. U.S. fatalities began to decrease since the beginning of 2009: sixteen soldiers were killed in January, 17 in February and nine in March. The death toll, however, grew in April to reach 19 and then to 25 in May, including five shot down by a fellow soldier in a shooting incident inside a camp near Baghdad International Airport. Fifteen were killed in June, including five in “non-combat” incidents. Some 486 U.S. soldiers were killed in 2003, 849 in 2004, 846 in 2005, 822 in 2006 and a record high of 904 in 2007. The toll went down dramatically in 2008 to reach 314. Still, November 2004, the month that saw fierce clashes between U.S. forces and gunmen in the restive city of al-Falluja, Diala province, is the month with the highest U.S. deaths: 137. AmR (S) 2