Military announces 8 U.S. deaths in Iraq

05/26/2007

Al-ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq (AP) -- Iraq's prime minister and two top American officials flew to the blistering western desert today in a rare joint outing to highlight gains there in the fight against insurgents, hours before the military reported the deaths of eight U.S. troops.

One of those killed, a Marine, died in combat in Anbar province, once the site of some of the fiercest fighting in the country -- and where the U.S. ambassador, the American commander in Iraq, and the Iraqi leader traveled today.

The Sunni-dominated province has grown calmer in recent months with the flowering of a new alliance among Sunni tribal leaders, the Iraqi government and U.S. led forces, but peace continues to be elusive -- as the death today of the Marine demonstrated.

"We are not saying Anbar province is all sweetness and light, there are still a lot of challenges," said Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commander.

Elsewhere today, three U.S. soldiers were killed in Salahuddin Province, north of Baghdad, when an explosion hit their patrol; another died in a roadside bombing in south Baghdad.

Late Friday, a soldier was killed in an ambush near Taji, north of the capital, and two other soldiers were hit by a roadside bomb on Wednesday in eastern Baghdad, the military said.

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