Actualité - Iraq: 86 U.S. troops killed in April

BAGHDAD, April 24.— A total of 86 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq since the start of April despite the deployment of reinforcements, the U.S. Army reported on Tuesday, when it provided the figures for the number killed in the most deadly attack on its troops in the last 15 months.

The U.S. command announced the deaths of nine soldiers after a suicide car-bomb attack on Monday near a military base in Diyala province in the north.

A further 20 soldiers and one Iraqi civilian were injured in that attack, according to a communiqué released by the U.S. command.

Likewise, total U.S. deaths since the 2003 invasion now total 3,333, according to the Pentagon’s website.

Another car-bomb attack was reported in a parking lot in front of the Iranian consulate in Baghdad, where diplomats from that country normally keep their vehicles, as do personnel who work in the neighboring Green Zone.

In Washington, George W. Bush reiterated his threat to veto any Congressional bill if it includes a deadline for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq. Bush was visibly irritated at by the Congressional Democrats’ insistence on setting a withdrawal deadline, and said it was contrary to the judgment of military chiefs.

(Granma International)