Guard, Reserve Monthly Death Toll at High

[Purveyor]

Guard, Reserve Monthly Death Toll at High

(06-03) 11:56 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) --

Thirty members of the Army National Guard, Army Reserve and Marine Corps Reserve died in the Iraq war in May, matching the highest toll for any month of the war, according to Pentagon figures.

The overall U.S. death toll last month was 80, the highest since 107 in January. There were 52 deaths in April and 36 in March, when it appeared the insurgency was waning.

Iraqis bore the brunt of the insurgent violence in May, but it also took a heavy toll on the approximately 140,000 U.S. troops there. The 80 deaths compares with a monthly average of 70 over the previous 12 months.

The Guard and Reserve, which make up nearly half the force in Iraq, have generally had fewer than 20 deaths per month during the war, and it's not clear why their losses spiked to 30 in May. That matched the 30 deaths among the Guard and Reserve in January, and it compared with 11 in April, 13 in March and 16 in February.

Link to entire AP article