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Boston GlobeBAGHDAD -- A huge bomb explosion followed by a hail of gunfire and grenades killed five US soldiers, the military said yesterday. The attack climaxed the deadliest three-month period for Americans since the war began.
Seven soldiers were wounded in the attack Thursday in the Rasheed district, a mixed Sunni-Shi'ite area of southern Baghdad where US-led forces recently stepped up pressure on extremists. The commander of US forces in Baghdad suggested the ambush could be part of an escalating backlash by Sunni insurgents.
Those deaths brought to 99 the number of US troops killed this month, according to an Associated Press count. The toll for the past three months -- 329 -- made it the deadliest quarter for US troops in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion. That surpasses the 316 soldiers killed during November 2004 to January 2005.
Major General Joseph F. Fil Jr., who heads US forces in the Iraqi capital, said US casualties had mounted because Sunni extremists are "starting to fight very hard" as US forces press into areas where militants had free rein.
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