BAGHDAD, Aug. 7 -- The U.S. military announced on Tuesday the deaths of three American soldiers late last week, bringing the total of U.S. deaths in Iraq in August to 19.
The United Nations said Tuesday it expects to raise the ceiling for international staff in Iraq from 65 to 95 by October, but the U.N. Staff Council called on the secretary-general to pull all U.N. personnel out of the country until security improves.
Attacks on American forces in Iraq using a lethal type of roadside bomb said to be supplied by Iran reached a new high in July, according to the U.S. military.
Officials estimate that there are 125,000 contractors working in Iraq, nearly the number of American troops. As of June 30, 1,001 have died there.
UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 7 -- The United Nations has offered to increase its presence in Baghdad for the first time in more than three years, after repeated appeals from the Bush administration for the world body to play a more active role in mediating Iraq's sectarian disputes.
The trail of Spc. Alex Jimenez and Pvt. Byron Fouty is getting colder by the day, leaving their platoon-mates with only faint hope that they are still alive. Their absence is particularly poignant because such losses have been so rare in Iraq: Unlike previous wars, when thousands of troops have gone missing from chaotic battlefields, only four U.S. troops are listed as missing in Iraq.
U.S. troops who have died while serving in Iraq and Kuwait.
Four more U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq, the military said on Tuesday, raising the U.S. death toll for the first six days of the month to 21 as thousands of troops battle militants in intense summer heat.
US troop levels in Iraq have hit an all-time high with overlapping unit rotations pushing the total number up to nearly 162,000, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.
Washington UN Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said Tuesday he was sure the UN Security Council will soon pass a resolution granting the world body an expanded role in Iraq despite chronic insecurity there.