Insurgents in Iraq adapt to U.S. tactics - 15 GIs killed over 3 days; roadside bombs, ambushes get more lethal

Insurgents in Iraq adapt to U.S. tactics - 15 GIs killed over 3 days; roadside bombs, ambushes get more lethal
By Ann Scott Tyson and John Ward Anderson
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune and The Washington Post
Published June 4, 2007

WASHINGTON — As U.S. troops push more deeply into Baghdad and its volatile outskirts, Iraqi insurgents are using increasingly sophisticated and lethal means of attack, including bigger roadside bombs that are resulting in greater numbers of American fatalities relative to the number of wounded.

On Sunday, the U.S. military said that 14 American soldiers had been killed over the previous three days, including four in a roadside bombing, The Associated Press reported.

The blast that killed the four soldiers occurred Sunday as the troops were conducting a cordon and search operation northwest of Baghdad, according to a statement reported by AP. Two other soldiers were killed and five were wounded along with an Iraqi interpreter in two separate roadside bombings on Sunday, the military said. The 14 deaths were in addition to the previously announced death of a soldier in Baghdad on Friday.

"It is very clear that the number of attacks against U.S. forces is up" and that they have grown more effective in Baghdad, especially in recent weeks, said Maj. Gen. James Simmons, deputy commander for operations in Iraq. At the same time, attacks on Iraqi security forces have declined slightly, he said, citing figures that compare the period of mid-February to mid-May to the preceding three months. "The attacks are being directed at us and not against other people," he said.

Insurgents are deploying huge, deeply buried munitions to protect their territory and mounting complex ambushes that demonstrate their ability to respond rapidly to U.S. tactics. A new counterinsurgency strategy has resulted in decreased civilian deaths in Baghdad but has placed thousands of additional U.S. troops at greater risk in small outposts in the capital and other parts of the country.

May, with 127 American fatalities, was the third-deadliest month for U.S. troops since the 2003 invasion. As in the conflict's two deadliest months for U.S. troops—137 died in November 2004 and 135 in April of that year—the overarching cause of May's toll is the ongoing, large-scale U.S. military operations.

The intensity of combat and the greater lethality of attacks are underscored by the lower ratio of wounded to killed for May, which fell to about 4.8-1—compared with an average of 8-1 in the Iraq conflict, according Pentagon data.

"The closer you get to a stand-up fight, the closer you're going to get to that 3-1 ratio" that typified 20th Century U.S. warfare, said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a defense information Web site.

U.S. deaths have risen sharply in some of Baghdad's outlying regions, such as Diyala province, where Sunni and Shiite groups have escalated sectarian violence and fought hard against American forces moving into their havens.

"Extremists on both sides of this thing are trying to make a statement by attacking U.S. troops," Simmons said.

The overall percentage of U.S. military fatalities caused by roadside bombs had dipped to 35 percent in February from more than 60 percent late last year. It then rose again to 70.9 percent in May, according to research by the independent Web site icasualties.org. Gains in defeating the bombs have not resulted in fewer deaths because the number of bombs and the lethality of some types have increased, military officials said.

Insurgents also are staging complex ambushes and retaliatory attacks as they target U.S. troops, officials said. While few in number, these include direct assaults on U.S. outposts, ambushes in which American troops have been captured, and attacks that use multiple weapons to strike more than one U.S. target. For example, attackers will bomb a patrol and then target ground forces or aircraft that come to its aid.

Military officials and analysts say the factors contributing to the increased deaths likely won't ease soon. "We are looking at a very nasty summer," said Toby Dodge, an Iraq expert at Queen Mary, University of London.