Roadside Bombings Kill 2 More G.I.’s in Iraq

05/28/2007

By DAMIEN CAVE
NY Times
Published: May 28, 2007


BAGHDAD, May 27 — Two more American soldiers have died from roadside bombs, the American military said Sunday, as American forces decided to run DNA tests on a body that could be that of one of the remaining two missing soldiers seized in an ambush on May 12 south of Baghdad.

Military officials warned that the body, found Sunday at an undisclosed location, did not initially appear to fit descriptions of either of the two missing soldiers, Specialist Alex R. Jimenez, 25, of Lawrence, Mass., and Pvt. Byron W. Fouty, 19, of Waterford, Mich.

But the discovery of the body was significant enough to require DNA tests, military officials said, suggesting that the body was not clearly that of an Iraqi.

The confirmation of the deaths suggested that May could soon become the deadliest month of the year so far for American troops.

With four days left in the month, not counting the unidentified body, 103 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq, according to Iraq Coalition Casualty Count, an independent Web site that monitors civilian and military casualties. That was one death shy of the total for April, when 104 died, the highest monthly toll this year.

May is only the seventh month since the war started in which there have been more than 100 American military deaths, according to the site’s tally, which is based on Pentagon figures. The worst month for American troops was November 2004, when 137 died.

Military officials have acknowledged that the recent troop increase and the new strategy for Iraq — which relies on moving troops out of large bases and into dangerous Iraqi communities — would lead to more American casualties. They have also said that it would diminish violence and make Iraq more stable.

Both soldiers whose deaths were reported Sunday had died Saturday.

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