Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq

U.S. soldiers secure the scene of a car bomb attack in Baghdad Oct. 21, 2006. The latest casualties brought to more than 2,780 the number of U.S. soldiers who has been killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, according to media tally.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

    BAGHDAD, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. military announced here Saturday three deaths of its marines in Iraq's restive western province of Anbar.

    The three U.S. marines were killed during "enemy action" in Iraq's Anbar province on Saturday, said the military, without giving further details for the incident.

    The death toll is part of a major upsurge in U.S. casualties in Iraq in October, in which nearly 80 U.S. servicemen have died so far.

    Earlier on Saturday, the military said that a U.S. soldier has been killed when a roadside bomb struck his vehicle in Baghdad.

    "A Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldier died at approximately 2:37 a.m. Friday when the vehicle he was riding in was struck by an improvised-explosive device in southwest Baghdad," the military said in a statement obtained by Xinhua.

    The latest casualties brought to more than 2,780 the number of U.S. soldiers who has been killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, according to media tally.

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¡¡¡¡Iraq's Sunni and Shiite clerics agree to halt sectarian bloodshed

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