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Three Americans killed in former Qaeda bastion in Iraq
Three Americans have been killed in fighting in the former Al-Qaeda stronghold of Anbar province in western Iraq, the US military said in a statement on Friday.
Three Americans have been killed in fighting in the former Al-Qaeda stronghold of Anbar province in western Iraq, the US military said in a statement on Friday.
"Two marines and one sailor were killed while conducting combat operations against enemy forces here April 30," it said. No further details were provided.
Anbar was once a bastion of the anti-US insurgency movement until Sunni rebels allied with the American forces in late 2006 and helped to drive Al-Qaeda out of the vast desert province.
The armed groups, commonly referred to as Sahwa or Awakening, are made up of former insurgents and have played a key role in dramatically reducing violence across the country.
The latest fatalities bring the total number of deaths among US military personnel since the March 2003 invasion to 4,281, according to an AFP count based on the independent website icasualties.
