U.S. Military: 76 Troops Die in Iraq Fighting This Month
    CNN

    Monday 12 April 2004

Seven Chinese men are latest kidnap victims

    BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- At least 76 American troops have died in hostile action this month in Iraq, the deadliest month of fighting there since the war began a year ago, according to the U.S. military.

    More U.S. troops died in November -- 81 -- but 12 of those were in non-hostile incidents.

    In the past three days, 26 of the 76 troops died, the military said Monday.

    Those deaths include three Marines who were killed in fighting west of Baghdad on Sunday, according to the Coalition Public Information Center.

    The Marines, assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, died Sunday during "security and stability operations" in Al Anbar province, CPIC said. Two of the Marines were killed in action, while the third died of his wounds later in the day, according to Army spokesman Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt.

    "With regards to why the Marines are there, it's because they fought for those, they bled for those and in some cases they died for those positions," Kimmitt said. "And they don't give up ground that easy."

    Al Anbar province includes Fallujah, the site of fierce battles between American forces and Iraqi insurgents. Top coalition officials are working to achieve a lasting cease-fire with the insurgents.

    Fallujah is where four American contractors were killed by insurgents on March 31, their bodies dragged through the streets and hanged from a bridge over the Euphrates River.

    "We are conducting operations in Fallujah not to go after the one or two people who committed those atrocities but for those who have now taken up weapons because for whatever reason they have decided the coalition is their enemy," Kimmitt said.

    Kimmitt said that the situation in Fallujah was calmer than it had been -- but remained tense.

    Also Sunday, two crew members of an Apache attack helicopter died when they were shot down by surface-to-air missile fire west of Baghdad International Airport, senior coalition military officials said.

    Thirteen of the 23 dead American soldiers were killed Friday, the coalition said. Four servicemen died Saturday and another nine died Sunday, the U.S. military said.

    The deaths bring the number of U.S. troops killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom to 674 -- 480 hostile and 194 non-hostile, according to the U.S. military.

    President Bush spoke to reporters Sunday at Fort Hood, Texas, where he spent part of the Easter holiday visiting troops.

    "I know what we're doing in Iraq is right," Bush said.

    "It was a tough week last week, and my prayers and thoughts are with those who pay the ultimate price for our security," the president said. (Full story)

    More kidnappings in Iraq
    The rash of civilian kidnappings continued Sunday night, when seven Chinese men were abducted by gunmen in central Iraq.

    The men were kidnapped apparently as they were traveling from the Jordanian border toward Baghdad, China's official state news agency, Xinhua, reported early Monday.

    Arabic-language television channel Al-Arabiya also reported the kidnappings, saying it had received a videotape from hostage-takers with footage of the captives that it planned to broadcast. (Full story)

    On Sunday, one hostage taken in the spate of kidnappings, British citizen Gary Teeley, was released, the British Foreign Ministry announced.

    But there was no word on the fate of other civilian hostages being held by insurgents.

    They include American Thomas Hamill, who was seen on the Arabic-language network Al-Jazeera sitting in front of an Iraqi flag as one of his apparent abductors imposed a deadline of 6 a.m. Sunday (10 p.m. Saturday ET) for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Fallujah.

    The abductor warned he would "be treated worse than the four Americans that were killed in Fallujah" -- a reference to the four civilians whose mutilated bodies were dragged through the city's streets -- if their demand was not met.

    Friends and neighbors of Hamill held a vigil Sunday night in his Mississippi hometown.

    A separate deadline for three Japanese hostages also passed with no word. The kidnappers threatened to burn the Japanese hostages alive Sunday unless Japan pulls its troops out of Iraq.

    U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney has begun a first round of meetings with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in the midst of the crisis over the Japanese civilians being held hostage in Iraq.

    Senior administration officials said Cheney was to use his meeting with Koizumi to press him to stay the course in Iraq and not bow to the increasing pressure to bring the troops home. (Full story)

    Two foreign Arab aid workers were kidnapped last week and apparently remain captive. They are Fadi Fadel, a Syrian-born Canadian who works for the International Rescue Committee, and Nabil Razzouk, a Jerusalem resident who works for RTI, a firm that subcontracts with the U.S. Agency for International Development.