Casualty Count

The suicide bombers who have killed 10,000 people in Iraq, including hundreds of American troops, usually are alienated young men from large families who are desperate to stand out from the crowd and make their mark...

A father in the American heartland agonizes as his son prepares for a second tour in Iraq. Baghdad morgue workers wash bodies for burial after a suicide attack. Army cadets study the shifting tactics of Iraqi insurgents for a battle they will inherit.

In my nightmares, the helicopters still come out of a dark sky, two black spots barely visible against the backdrop of night. Their swirling blades grow louder until they finally touch down on earth and fall silent.

The influx of thousands of U.S. forces has driven down insurgent attacks in Baghdad, but violence elsewhere in Iraq raises questions about whether killings will continue to drop as American forces begin to leave, the United Nations said Saturday.

A Najaf oil refinery expanded its production capacity Saturday by about 10,000 barrels per day, or roughly half of what it had producing.

A Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldier was killed at approximately 3:30 p.m. March 15 after being attacked by small-arms fire in southwestern Baghdad in combat operations. The Soldier was shot by a terrorist at approximately 2:30 p.m....

Sgt. 1st. Class Shawn M. Suzch, 32, of Hilltown, PN...assigned to the 1st Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division... died March 10 in Baghdad...of wounds suffered when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device.

Iraqi police arrested dozens of members of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia on Saturday, hours after two policemen were killed in gunbattles in the southern city of Kut, police said.

Fierce fighting flared again overnight between Mahdi Army militiamen and Iraqi forces in the Shiite city of Kut in which two people were killed and eight wounded, police said on Saturday. The clashes continued sporadically Saturday morning...

Three civilians were wounded when a car exploded near Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, Nineveh province police spokesman Brigadier-General Khaled Abdul Sattar said.

A barrage of 25 Katyusha rockets aimed at the US consulate in the central Iraqi city of Hilla on Saturday slammed instead into a residential area, killing a woman, police said.

Pfc. Tenzin L. Samten, 33, of Prescott, Ariz., who was assigned to the 7th Special Troops Battalion, 7th Sustainment Brigade, 10th Mountain Division... died March 12 in Tallil, Iraq, of wounds suffered when their vehicle was hit by indirect fire.

Several senior Iraqi officials said on Wednesday that the government might soon deploy Iraqi Army troops to seize control of this city’s decrepit but vital port from politically connected militias known more for corruption and inciting terrorism...

Members of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia clashed with Iraqi police in the southern city of Kut on Friday, a day after a close Sadr aide ordered militiamen to abide by a ceasefire, police said.

Staff Sgt. Laurent J. West, 32, of Raleigh, N.C., died March 11 near Kishkishkia, Iraq, of wounds suffered when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment...

Iraqi leaders have failed to take advantage of a reduction in violence to make adequate progress toward resolving their political differences, Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said Thursday.

Mourners carrying flowers and olive branches buried one of Iraq's most senior Chaldean Catholic clerics Friday, one day after his body was found in a northern Iraqi city where al-Qaida retains its last urban stronghold.

Police and a U.S.-backed neighbourhood patrol unit killed an al Qaeda leader in Samarra, 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad on Thursday, police said.

Sgt. Phillip R. Anderson, 28, of Everett, Wash...assigned to the 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fort Hood, Texas...died Mar. 10 in Balad Ruz, Iraq, of wounds suffered when their vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device.

Cpl. Jose A. Paniagua-Morales, 22, of Bell Gardens, Calif., died March 7 in Balad, Iraq, of wounds suffered in Samarra, Iraq, when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment...