A total of seven U.S. Marines were killed on Monday in western Iraq bringing the American death toll in the war to depose Saddam Hussein to more than 1,800.
Six Marines were killed in action Monday in the town of Haditha, 140 miles northwest of Baghdad. They belonged to Regimental Combat Team-2 of the 2nd Marine Division.
The seventh Marine was killed in a separate incident which took place in the town of Hit, 50 miles southeast of Haditha in the often troubled Euphrates River valley.
Insurgents claimed to have killed 10 Americans. They posted handbills in Haditha and claimed to have captured weapons in addition to killing the Marines.
On Tuesday, a roadside bomb aimed at a convoy of U.S. troops exploded at the entrance to a tunnel in Central Baghdad. At least 29 civilians were injured and at least two Humvees were damaged. U.S. sources had no word on any casualties.
The total number of Americans killed since the invasion of Iraq is now at least 1,801 according to a count by the Associated Press. At least 1,382 of those killed died as a result of hostile fire. Five of the dead in that count were civilians.
