Wire: 8 US Troops Killed in Bloody Day Overseas

Off the Wire:

WASHINGTON, Sept. 8, 2009 -- Newswire services today reported that eight U.S. servicemembers died on a bloody day for forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, the news has been largely ignored by most traditional media outlets.

Three servicemembers died in a roadside bombing in northern Iraq -- the U.S. military's deadliest single incident in five months -- and one died in Baghdad.

Four Marines died in an ambush described as a "complex attack" in Kunar province, eastern Afghanistan.

Violence in Afghanistan is at a record high, while attacks have increased in Iraq since a U.S. withdrawal from cities and towns in July.

Three soldiers with Multinational Corps Iraq died when an improvised explosive device targeting their patrol detonated in northern Iraq at approximately 11:40 a.m.

In a separate incident, a roadside bomb struck a patrol in southern Baghdad, killing one American soldier also assigned to Multinational Corps Iraq.

Four U.S. Marines died when they walked into an ambush by insurgents in Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province. Seven Afghan troops and an interpreter for the Marine commander also died in the ambush and the subsequent battle, which lasted seven hours.

They were caught in a "complex attack," The Associated Press quoted U.S. Army spokeswoman Capt. Elizabeth Mathias as saying.

The deaths bring to 820 the number of American troops to die in Afghanistan since the start of the 2001 U.S.-led invasion according to the icasualties.org Web site.

About 4,340 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

(Report from newswire sources.)

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