By IINA
Baghdad : ight US soldiers were killed in separate attacks in Iraq yesterday in one of the deadliest days for the US military in several months. In one attack, insurgents killed three US soldiers and their translator in Iraq’s restive province of Diyala where a massive American and Iraqi military sweep has been targeting Al Qaeda militants for several months, according to AFP. The military said another soldier was also wounded in the blast. The Diyala attack that took place on Monday was announced by the military today.
Yesterday, however the military said five US soldiers were killed and three wounded in a suicide attack earlier in the day in the once upscale neighborhood of Mansur in Baghdad. The Baghdad attack was the deadliest on American troops in two months. “Five US soldiers were killed today when their dismounted patrol was struck by a suicide bomber. Three US soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter were wounded as well,” military spokesman Lieutenant Michael Street said. A separate US military statement said one of the five soldiers died of wounds received from the attack that occurred at around 3:00 pm (1200 GMT). The latest deaths bring the US military’s death toll since the March 2003 invasion to 3,983, according to an AFP tally.
The previous major attack against US troops was on January 9 when six US soldiers were killed when they entered a booby-trapped house in Diyala. The previous deadliest day for the military was August 22, 2007, when 14 American soldiers were killed in northern Iraq after their Blackhawk came down during a pre-dawn flight. An Iraqi security official said two civilians were also killed in the Baghdad suicide attack yesterday while 15 others were wounded and around six shops were damaged.