surge update - 9 U.S. Soldiers Killed in Iraq in 2 Days

[spanone]

goddamit
~snip~Filed at 6:10 p.m. ET

BAGHDAD (AP) -- Nine American soldiers were killed in the first two days of a new offensive to root out al-Qaida in Iraq fighters holed up in districts north of the capital, the U.S. military reported Wednesday.

The losses came as many militants fled U.S. and Iraqi forces massing in Diyala, a province of palm and citrus groves that has defied the trend toward lower violence. The campaign's scope is nationwide but is mainly focused on gaining control of Diyala and its most important city, Baqouba, which al-Qaida has declared the capital of its self-styled Islamic caliphate.

Six soldiers were killed and four were wounded Wednesday in a booby-trapped house in Diyala, the U.S. command said. It also announced that three U.S. soldiers were killed and two wounded in an attack Tuesday in Salahuddin province, north of Diyala.

The toll marked some of the deadliest days for U.S. forces in Iraq since last fall. For all December, 23 U.S. soldiers died in Iraq.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Iraq.html?_r=1&hp=&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print

[stillcool]

1. and on...and on...

and on it goes. 23 more families...