10 marines killed in roadside bomb attack

A roadside bomb killed 10 Marines and wounded 11 others on a foot patrol near Fallujah, the US military said. It was the deadliest attack against American troops in four months.

The ambush was against Marines from Regimental Combat Team 8, based at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, the military said Friday. The Marine unit has suffered some of the highest casualties of the Iraq war.

The unit’s latest losses took place on Thursday and were among 14 new deaths in Iraq announced by the military on Friday. Altogether, at least 2,124 have died since the beginning of the war.

The attack in Fallujah came a day after US President George W. Bush outlined his strategy for victory in Iraq, and at a time when there are growing calls for an exit plan for US troops.

Hours after the military announced its grim news, Al-Jazeera broadcast a videotape and statement in which the kidnappers of four Christian peace activists threatened to kill the hostages – two Canadians, an American and a Briton – unless all prisoners in US and Iraqi detention centres are freed by December 8.

The roadside bomb in Fallujah, the former insurgent headquarters west of the capital, was fashioned from several large artillery shells, the military said.

The US command did not release many details of the attack, but a witness said it happened at a mill, Amiriyat al Fallujah, just outside the city.

“More than 20 troops entered there and a huge explosion happened,” said Mohsen Mohammed. “Afterward, the helicopters and tanks arrived in the area.”

The military statement said seven of the wounded later returned to duty and that the rest of the team was conducting “counterinsurgency operations throughout Fallujah and the surrounding area” to improve security for the December 15 elections.

The attack was the single deadliest against US troops in Iraq since 14 Marines were killed on August 3 when a bomb destroyed their vehicle near Haditha, 140 miles northwest of Baghdad.