March second-deadliest for U.S. troops
From Mike Mount
CNN Washington Bureau
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- March turned out to be the second deadliest month for U.S. troops in Iraq since the end of major combat operations, according to the Department of Defense.
Thirty-one U.S. troops were killed by hostile fire in Iraq last month, along with two Army civilians.
Additionally, 19 U.S. troops were killed in accidents or other incidents not related to enemy fire, bringing the total number of U.S. deaths in Iraq for March to 52.
The death toll surpassed all previous month except November 2003 when 81 U.S. troops were killed.
The March death toll marks a dramatic shift from February which had the lowest death toll since May 2003.
In February 12 U.S. troops were killed by hostile fire, and there were 21 troop deaths overall.
Last month, most U.S. hostile deaths were the result of roadside bombs, one of which killed five soldiers March 31.
Pentagon officials said they see no trend, saying the rising number of attacks on U.S troops could be due to a more-than-usual number of convoys on the roads as troops continue to move in and out of Iraq.
However, U.S. officials told CNN they expect more attacks as June 30 -- the date that governing power is to be transferred from the U.S.-led coalition to the Iraqis -- gets closer.
Most of the attacks are taking place in the anti-American hotbed dubbed the "Sunni Triangle" formed by the cities of Fallujah, Tikrit and Baghdad.
The attacks on U.S. troops are believed to be by anti-American Iraqis trying to push out what they see as an occupying force.
The attacks on Iraqis are believed to be by outside terrorist groups attempting to force a wedge between religious groups to incite a civil war before the United States hands governing powers over to Iraq, Pentagon officials have said.
Pentagon officials continue to stress that Iraqi civilians and security forces will be the main target of attacks by insurgents, either foreign or local, and that many more Iraqi security forces have been killed since May 1 -- when President Bush declared an end to major combat -- than U.S. troops.
On Wednesday, four American civilian security contractors were killed in a grenade attack.
Afterward, residents cheered and pulled charred bodies from burning vehicles and hung them from a Euphrates River bridge.
Crowds gathered around the vehicles and dragged at least one of the bodies through the streets, witnesses said. And residents pulled another body from one of the cars and beat it with sticks.
Five American soldiers also died Wednesday in a roadside bombing near Habbaniya, the U.S. military said.
