U.S. soldier killed, another wounded north of Baghdad

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: A U.S. soldier was killed and another wounded in a blast inside the joint base of Balad, north of Baghdad, the third announced U.S. fatality this month, according to the U.S. army on Thursday. “A U.S. air force soldier was killed on Wednesday (Sept. 15) and another wounded during the process of programmed detonation of explosives found by the forces in different areas of Iraq,” read a U.S. army release as received by IraqiNews.com news agency. The death has brought to 4419 the number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, including 49 in 2010 and 150 in 2009. Three were killed in August, four in July, eight in June, six in May, eight in April, seven in March, five in February and five in January. 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) 1