1/7/2005 8:00:00 AM GMT
Seven U.S. soldiers were killed on Thursday in a roadside bomb attack in northwest Baghdad.
Also two Marines were killed in western Iraq, which makes it the deadliest day for the U.S. occupation forces in a month, after a U.S. base in Mosul was attacked last month, in which 22 soldiers were killed.
According to a military statement, soldiers with Task Force Baghdad were on patrol Thursday night when their Bradley fighting vehicle was hit by a bomb. All those who were inside the Bradley were killed, the statement added.
"All of the occupants were killed," said Captain Patricia Brewer, a U.S. military spokeswoman.
The U.S. military didn’t provide any further details on the attack.
In a separate incident, 2 U.S. Marines, both members of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, were killed on Thursday in Anbar province, which houses Fallujah city, where U.S. troops launched a deadly offensive in November that claimed the lives of at least 2000 Iraqis.
Thursday attacks came shortly after U.S.-backed Iraqi government announced it was extending a state of emergency by 30 days to crack down on Iraqi rebels, who have stepped up their attacks recently, in an attempt to hamper preparations for the country’s upcoming elections, to be held at the end of this month.
Iraqi PM Iyad Allawi has warned that violence will increase as voting day draws closer.
Three weeks before the Jan. 30 elections, the commander of U.S. ground forces in Iraq admitted that security in four of 18 Iraqi provinces was poor, which makes a lot of people start worrying about the legitimacy and credibility of the Iraqi elections.
However, Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz said that delaying the vote would only give way for more attacks.
"I can't guarantee that every person in Iraq that wants to vote, goes to a polling booth and can do that safely," Metz said.
"We're going to do everything possible to create that condition for them, but we are fighting an enemy who cares less who he kills, when he kills and how he kills. A delay in the elections just gives the thugs and terrorists more time to continue their intimidation, their cruelty, their brutal murders of innocent people."
On Tuesday, five U.S. soldiers were killed, including three Task Force Baghdad soldiers.
Thursday's toll is the highest for the U.S. military in Iraq since last month Mosul attack, which killed 22 American troops.
The latest deaths bring to 1,350 the number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq since the war started in 20 March 2003, whereas thousands of Iraqis have been killed.
Nearly 100 people, mostly Iraqi policemen, have been killed during the past four days, in a spate of violence, including: assassinations, car bombings as well as other assaults.