The US military death toll in Iraq since major combat was declared over hassurpassed the number killed during the war. The killing of two soldiers, blown up in their Abrams main battle tank nearBaghdad, took the number of fatalities to 117 since President George Bushdeclared an end to major fighting on May 1st.
A total of 114 US soldiers died in the active combat phase, which began onMarch 20th.
Attacks on coalition forces have leapt to new high levels in the past week, USofficials said today.
Seven Ukrainian troops were wounded in the first ambush of a multinationalunit in the Polish sector south of Baghdad.
In Baghdad, Colonel William Darley said the average number of anti-US attackshad reached 33 a day in the past week.
This is more than a 50 per cent increase over levels of early September. Bymid-October that number, reported by the US command, had reached about 26 aday.
The Abrams tank was disabled when it was struck by a land mine or a roadsidebomb on Tuesday night during a patrol near Balad, 45 miles north of Baghdad,said Major Josslyn Aberle, a spokeswoman for the 4th Infantry Division.
A third crewman was injured and evacuated to a military hospital in Germany, she said.It was the first M1 Abrams main battle tank destroyed since the end of majorcombat.
During the active combat phase, several of the 68 ton vehicles - themainstay of the US Army's armoured forces - were disabled in combat.
The latest attacks, including a night-time mortar barrage in Baghdad, followeda day of violence in which insurgents targeted American forces and Iraqis whowork with the occupation authorities.
Officials also announced that Baghdad's Deputy Mayor Faris Abdul Razzaq al-Assam was killed on Sunday in a drive-by shooting.
Baghdad police commander Major General Hassan al-Obeid announced new measures,including additional 24 hour checkpoints and special patrols, to heightensecurity in the capital.