The U.S. military announced Sunday that 14 U.S. troops died over the past three days, including four in a single roadside bombing and another who was hit by a suicide bomber while on a foot patrol.
The explosion that killed the four American troops occurred Sunday as the troops were conducting a cordon and search operation northwest of Baghdad, according to a statement, cited by the AP. Two other soldiers were killed and five were wounded along with an Iraqi interpreter in two separate roadside bombings on Sunday, the military said.
In the boldest attack, a U.S. soldier died Friday after the patrol approached two suspicious men for questioning near a mosque southwest of Baghdad, and one of the suspects blew himself up. Military spokesman Maj. Webster Wright said U.S. troops also fired at the second suspect after he started acting aggressively, and the gunfire detonated his suicide vest.
Seven other soldiers were killed in a series of attacks across Iraq on Saturday.
Combined with the previously announced death of a U.S. soldier in central Baghdad on Friday, it was a deadly start for June.
A car bomb also exploded outside a U.S. base near the city of Baqouba, leaving a number of troops gasping for air and suffering from eye irritations, the military said. The Los Angeles Times reported that the car was carrying chlorine canisters and said the soldiers who were sickened had been treated and returned to duty.
On Sunday, at least 73 other Iraqis were killed or found dead nationwide, including 31 bullet-riddled bodies of men.
