First U.S. fatality in Aug.

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: A U.S. soldier was killed in Babel on Saturday, the first American army fatality to be announced in August, upping the total number U.S. since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 to 4,414, including 44 in 2010, according to the U.S. military in a statement on Sunday. “A U.S. soldier was killed in Babel province on Saturday,” read the statement as received by IraqiNews.com news agency. It did not reveal further details on how the American serviceman was killed. The death has brought to 4,414 the number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, including 150 killed in 2009 and 44 in 2010. Four were killed in July 2010, three of them have reportedly died of non-combat causes, eight in June, including only two in military operations, six in May and eight in April, seven in March, five in February and five in January. 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