14 U.S. Marines and a civilian interpreter died Wednesday in western Iraq, the U.S. command said. The Marines were killed early Wednesday when their vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device, the military said, according to The AP. One Marine was also injured in the attack.
The incident occurred near Haditha, which is 140 miles northwest of Baghdad.
President Bush lamented the deaths of the Marines, calling the attack a "grim reminder" America is still at war. "These terrorists and insurgents will use brutal tactics because they're trying to shake the will of the United States of America. They want us to retreat," Bush said in Texas. "We're at war. We're facing an enemy that is ruthless. If we put out a (pullout) timetable the enemy would adjust their tactics," the US leader added.
Earlier, an American freelance journalist was found dead in the Iraqi city of Basra early Wednesday, officials said. A U.S. Embassy spokesman confirmed Steven Vincent's body was found.
A Western official said Vincent suffered multiple gunshot wounds. According to CNN, he had been abducted, along with a translator, by unknown gunmen, but the translator survived, the official said.
Vincent was in Basra writing a book about the history of the city. He also maintained a Web blog about life in Iraq, and most recently had an op-ed piece in The New York Times on Sunday under the title "Switched Off in Basra."
According to the Web site of his publishing company, Vincent's work appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Harper's, The Christian Science Monitor, Art and Auction, and National Review Online, along with other art and political journals. He was a resident of New York for 25 years, the site said.
Vincent was an eyewitness to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, and traveled twice to Iraq afterward, paying his own way and "traveling without security or official connections, living by his wits," according to the Spence Publishing site.
The result was his book, "In the Red Zone: A Journey into the Soul of Iraq," published late last year. Vincent dedicated the book to those who lost their lives in the attacks.
Also Wednesday, five Iraqi soliders died when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a army checkpoint in Al-Isakhi, north of Baghdad, while another soldier died when a bomber blew up a tractor in Balad.
Two policemen were killed when their patrol was attacked by gunmen in Baquba, northeast of Baghdad, while one policeman was shot dead by gunmen in Baghdad.
A civilian died when hit by a mortar near the Baghdad governor's office and two other policemen died when gunmen opened fire on the car they were travelling in, AFP reported.
