Mosque attack blast kills 79

The Daily Telegraph | Mosque attack blast kills 79: "by Mustafa Ahmed and Jay Deshmukh in Baghdad | April 08, 2006

THREE suicide bombers, two of them disguised as women, killed at least 79 people and wounded 164 as worshippers left a popular Baghdad Shiite mosque after weekly Friday prayers overnight."
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Mr Saghir's mosque packs thousands of worshippers every Friday. The cleric is known for his fiery sermons promulgating the rights of Iraq's Shiites.

"This is a filthy war against the Shiites," Mr Saghir told the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya satellite channel.

He blamed newspapers close to the ousted Sunni elite for provoking the attack by waging "a campaign defaming our mosque, saying that some Sunnis were detained in the mosque." ...

U.S. Says 9 More Soldiers Killed in Iraq: 1038 Iraqis in Mar, 741-Feb, 608-Jan, 375-Dec ...

Excite News - U.S. Says 9 More Soldiers Killed in Iraq: "Apr 3, 9:52 PM (ET) | By VANESSA ARRINGTON

Nine more American troops died in Iraq, the U.S. military reported Monday, five of them in a vehicle accident in a remote, rain-soaked western area. Their deaths brought the number of service members killed so far this month to 13 - nearly half the number who died in all of March.

Three more Americans - two Marines and a sailor - were missing in the Sunday accident in which a truck overturned near Asad air base, a U.S. statement said. All the dead were Marines, the statement added.
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Although U.S. casualties have been on the decline, deaths among Iraqis have increased because of rising tensions between Shiite and Sunni Muslims. At least 1,038 Iraqi civilians died last month in war-related violence, according to an Associated Press count.

The AP count showed at least 375 Iraqi civilians killed in December, 608 in January and 741 in February. Most of the increase appeared a result of a sharp rise in the number of civilians found dead throughout Baghdad - apparent victims of sectarian reprisal killings.

Bringing Back the Wounded With Heart, Soul and Surgery - Los Angeles Times

Bringing Back the Wounded With Heart, Soul and Surgery - Los Angeles Times: "By David Zucchino, Times Staff Writer | April 2, 2006"

Injured troops are swept up in a lifesaving process unmatched in past wars -- reaching hospitals in minutes and the U.S. in days. But their agony doesn't end on the battlefield.
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Despite the destructive force of roadside bombs, the rate of wounded who die is lower in Iraq than for any war in U.S. history. Since the war began three years ago, about 10% of those wounded have died of their injuries, according to the Pentagon, down from 24% during the Vietnam War and 30% during World War II. The highest lethality rate was 42%, during the Revolutionary War.
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More than 17,000 American troops have been wounded in Iraq since the U.S. invasion in March 2003.