American death toll in Iraq reaches 4,000

Four US troops among those killed as violence surges

A US soldier secured the site of a car bombing in Baghdad. The US-protected Green Zone also came under fire. (Ahmad al-rubaye/AFP/Getty Images)

BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb killed four US soldiers on patrol in southern Baghdad last night, the military said in a statement today, taking the overall US death toll in the five-year Iraq war to at least 4,000.

Earlier, mortar and rocket attacks pounded the Green Zone, the heavily fortified US-Iraqi military and government complex, on a day when more than 60 people were killed in violence across the country.

The attack on the US patrol also injured one soldier, but further details were not available.

Navy Lieutenant Patrick Evans, a military spokesman, expressed condolences to all the families who have lost a loved one in Iraq, saying each death is "equally tragic."

"There have been some significant gains. However, this enemy is resilient and will not give up, nor will we," he said. "There's still a lot of work to be done."

The 4,000 figure is according to an Associated Press count that includes eight civilians who worked for the Department of Defense.

The Green Zone assault began shortly before 6 a.m., waking US military personnel, then resumed later in the day and continued into the evening.

Four people received medical treatment, US Embassy spokesman Philip Reeker said. He said he did not know the identities of those injured or their medical status.

No group asserted responsibility, but similar attacks in the past have been tied to Shiite extremist groups.

The Green Zone shelling and the other attacks across Iraq marked an escalation of violence at the start of the war's sixth year.

In the northern city of Mosul, a suicide attacker detonated an explosives-laden truck after driving through the main gate of an Iraqi army headquarters. The blast killed 15 Iraqi soldiers and wounded 42.

In Baghdad, a car bomb exploded in the western neighborhood of Sholeh at about 2:30 p.m., killing five Iraqi civilians and wounding seven. Gunmen in the southern part of the capital opened fire in a market, killing six civilians and injuring 17 others. Also in southern Baghdad, US forces in helicopters killed 15 gunmen and injured 17, according to Interior Ministry sources.

In central Baghdad, mortar rounds demolished houses, killing two civilians, including a child. At least two people were killed when mortar shells, apparently aimed at the Green Zone, landed on their houses in the Kamaliya district.

On Baghdad's west side, in the Mansour area, one person was killed in a roadside bombing, Interior Ministry sources said.

In Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad, gunmen in Balad Ruz attacked the convoy of an emergency battalion commander, killing him and three of his bodyguards. Four Iraqi soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in the city. Near Baqouba, also northeast of Baghdad, a battalion commander was fatally shot outside his house. In downtown Baqouba, a gunman killed a policeman and injured two others.

After a lull, violence has escalated in recent days. Shiite leaders on Friday warned followers to expect more bloodshed after a suicide bombing near a Shiite shrine in Karbala today and continued clashes between Iraqi forces and Shiite militias in southern areas of the country.

Also yesterday, the commander of US prisons in Iraq defended the military's incarceration policies as the detainee population has swelled to 23,000, nearly 45 percent higher than a year ago.