Eight US soldiers killed in two attacks in Iraq Monday

March 11, 2008, 10:03 AM (GMT+02:00)

This was the deadliest day for US soldiers in Iraq since last summer.

In Baghdad, a terrorist wearing an explosive vest blew himself up against a US patrol on foot Monday, March 10, leaving five American troops dead. Nine Iraqi civilians were wounded, including an interpreter.

In Diyalah province, north of Baghdad, three American soldiers and an interpreter were killed by a roadside bomb blast.

Earlier, a female suicide bomber killed an Iraqi tribal leader SE of Baquba. The woman detonated her bomb vest when Thaer Ghadban al-Kharki, head of the local Awakening council allied with the US against al Qaeda, answered the door at his home in Kenaan near the Diyala capital of Baquba north of Baghdad. He was killed on the spot with his daughter and two guards.

DEBKAfile: After a 60-percent drop in fatalities in the last six months, the downward trend has reversed in recent weeks.


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