THE 1600th US soldier to die in Iraq was killed during a gun battle near Samarra on Sunday, the Pentagon has confirmed.
The total includes 1216 who died in hostile action. Britain has lost 87 men in that time.
Congressional research also confirmed that insurgents staged 15,257 attacks on coalition forces from July to March.
Gun and bomb attacks have increased from 40 a day to more than 70 since the democratic elections in January.
Iraq's police lost 2050 men last year, and about 1000 members of the f ledgling army and national guard also perished.
Rebels have also killed about 2000 civilians in two years. The independent Iraq Body Count organisation, whose figures come from hospital reports and relatives of victims, says the real toll is between 21,000 to 25,000 civilians since the USled invasion in 2003.
In fresh fighting yesterday, the US military said it had killed 75 insurgents in an offensive in the western Anbar province, striking back after weekend attacks that killed 10 American troops, two US civilians and dozens of Iraqis.
Guerrilla violence, which has led to at least 300 deaths since the cabinet was announced on April 28, showed no let-up. A suicide car bombing at a police checkpoint in Baghdad killed three people. A blast aimed at a police patrol killed two Iraqis.
In another hostage crisis, an insurgent group said it had seized Akihiko Saito, 44, a Japanese security worker, claiming he was seriously hurt.
Hart Security, his British employer, said several other staff were also missing. Insurgents holding Douglas Wood, 63, an Australian engineer, have demanded Canberra's troops leave by today. -Reuters
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