2 U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq in November

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Only two U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq during November 2010, raising the U.S. fatalities since the withdrawal from Iraqi cities to 11. The deaths have brought the number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003 to 4,429. The incidents also increases to 59 the number of fatalities in 2010, including eleven since the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq by the end of August. “A United States Forces – Iraq Soldier died during physical training at Joint Base Balad, Iraq on November 19,” according to a statement from the U.S. army. Another soldier was killed on November 21 by light weapons in Tikrit. U.S. fatalities began to decrease since early 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. 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. SH (S) 1