U.S. suffers higher casualties in Iraq since "surge" begins

Two months into the troop "surge" in Iraq, the U.S. military is suffering an increase in battlefield deaths, the Washington Examiner reported Tuesday.

Pentagon officials were quoted as saying that the reason is two- fold.

The first reason is that U.S. units have intensified their efforts to defeat the insurgents.

Also, al Qaeda in Iraq and insurgents are focusing more on U.S. targets to defeat the troop reinforcement plan, which is widely seen as the United States'last chance to stabilize the country.

The first quarter of 2007 marked the first time that 80 or more Americans were killed in action in each of three consecutive months.

April, with 35 deaths so far, is on a pace to exceed 100 deaths, which would make it one of the deadliest periods for American troops since the war began four years ago.

January, February and March combined for the deadliest first quarter, with 244 deaths compared with 148 in 2006, 200 in 2005 and 119 in 2004, according to casualty counts by the website icasualties.org.

This past weekend exemplified how the insurgents can methodically target and kill U.S. soldiers, according to the Washington Examiner.

In all, 10 U.S. troops were killed Saturday and Sunday outside of Baghdad, where the security crackdown is concentrated.

The deaths brought the war's U.S. military death toll to 3,282.

Source: Xinhua