Coalition records its 1,000th death in Iraq Friday, July 9, 2004 Posted: 8:13 AM EDT (1213 GMT) BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A U.S. soldier has died of wounds he suffered in fighting in Baghdad late Thursday, a U.S. military spokesman said. The death brings coalition deaths -- both hostile and non-hostile -- since the start of the war to 1,000. U.S. military deaths now total 880, with 657 of them by hostile fire. The soldier's name was withheld pending notification of next of kin, AP reported. The spokesman said five insurgents were detained in the fighting. On Thursday, a mortar attack killed five U.S. troops and an Iraqi National Guard member in the central Iraqi city of Samarra, according to a U.S. military spokesman in Tikrit. Twenty soldiers and three Iraqis were wounded. The 10:30 a.m. strike collapsed the National Guard headquarters, which is frequently used by soldiers from the 1st Infantry Division. The 1st Infantry Division and Iraqi security services patrol the area. Division radar located the point from which the mortars were fired and shot back with four 120 mm rounds. Samarra is 120 kilometers (about 75 miles) northwest of Baghdad. link
+ RIP folks. May that be the last casualty. I admire the bravery and the sacrifice of these people, and their families, so much. God bless the departed, the wounded, and their loved ones.
