11 US troops killed in Iraq

2006-01-06 21:38

Baghdad - Military officials on Friday announced the deaths of six more United States troops killed in the recent violence that's swept Iraq, bringing to 11 the number of Americans slain on the same day.

Thousands of Shi'ites in Baghdad protested the bloodshed and what they claimed was American coddling of Sunni Arab insurgents.

A US marine and soldier died in the attack by a suicide bomber who infiltrated a line of police recruits in Ramadi on Thursday, killing at least 58 and wounding dozens.

The military said two soldiers were also killed in the Baghdad area after their vehicle hit a roadside bomb.

Shi'ite pilgrims

It said two US marines were killed by separate small arms attacks, while conducting combat operations in Fallujah.

The military had previously announced the deaths of five soldiers hit by a roadside bomb, south of Karbala.

The attack came minutes before a second suicide bomber struck Shi'ite pilgrims in that city, killing 63.

It was the fourth-deadliest day in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, with at least 136 total deaths, including the US troops.

The 11 US deaths were the most in a single day since 11 Americans were killed on December 01.

2 194 US military members killed

On that day, buried bombs killed 10 marines as they gathered for a promotion ceremony in an abandoned flourmill in Fallujah, and one soldier was killed in Ramadi.

At least 2 194 members of the US military had died since the war began.

A spokesperson for the US military said insurgents were becoming more desperate as a democratic process increasingly took hold "and desperate people are dangerous people".

Colonel Barry Johnson said: "The common people of Iraq are losing their tolerance for the insurgents and terrorists among them, turning in the enemy among them at an increasing rate.

;"We aren't past the dangers that threaten progress and there will be more tragedies ahead of us."

Widespread fraud

Colonel Noori Ashur said that in diminished violence on Friday, a suicide car bomber targeting a police patrol in Baghdad killed one officer.

Meanwhile, thousands of Shi'ites in Baghdad's Sadr City slum rallied against the attacks, chanting slogans against US ambassador Zalmay Khalizad and Sunni Arab leaders, especially hardliners that had been complaining of widespread fraud during the December 15 elections.

The demonstration was organised after Friday prayers by Iraq's main Shi'ite religious party, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution, which had issued a veiled threat to Sunnis supporting the insurgency that its patience was wearing thin after twin suicide attacks on Thursday that killed 119 people.

SCIRI also condemned policies it said were imposed by the US-led coalition that were hampering Iraqi security forces' counter terrorism work.

- AP