BREAKING NEWS: THREE U.S. TROOPS KILLED IN IRAQ (NEW YORK TIMES)

3 U.S. Troops Are Killed in Iraq Clash

By STEVEN LEE MYERS
Published: May 1, 2009
THE NEW YORK TIMES

http://tinyurl.com/co37oy

BAGHDAD — Two American marines and a sailor were killed during a military operation in Anbar, the vast province west of Baghdad where combat operations and violence have declined dramatically, the American military command said in a statement on Friday.

The three Americans died on Thursday “while conducting combat operations against enemy forces,” the statement said. It provided no other details about the circumstances of their deaths.
The deaths brought the total for American troops in April to 18, according to the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count, making it the deadliest month for American forces in Iraq since September.

Anbar is an overwhelmingly Sunni province that was the center of the insurgency in Iraq until tribal leaders joined forces with the American military and Iraqi government against Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia and other extremists in 2006 and 2007. Since then the province has been one of the more stable in the country.