August was the first month since the US-led invasion in 2003 that no US soldiers were killed in Iraq, the latest casualty figures show.
An independent group, icasualties.org, has displayed the statistics for August on its website, which tracks US fatalities in Iraq every month.
US Col Douglas Crissman said it showed how far Iraqi security forces had come.
The 48,000 US troops still in Iraq will withdraw at the end of the year. Almost 4,500 US soldiers have died there.
Col Crissman, who is in charge of American forces in four provinces of southern Iraq, told the New York Times: "If you had thought about a month without a death back during the surge in 2007, it would have been pretty hard to imagine because we were losing soldiers every day, dozens a week."
The AFP news agency quoted US Major Angela Funaro as saying: "August was the first month with no hostile deaths and no non-combat deaths, which includes accidents or illness.
"However, there were two other months on record - December 2009 and 0ctober 2010 - when the United States Forces-Iraq had no hostile deaths, but at least one non-combat-related death."
By: Brant
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment