BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 28 — The military on Friday announced the death of one American soldier, bringing the death toll so far in April to 69, the highest in five months. The monthly figure disrupted a trend of steadily falling American fatalities that had begun in November.
The bulk of American deaths in April occurred in Baghdad and in the insurgent-controlled western province of Anbar, according to Iraq Coalition Casualty Count, an independent group that compiles casualty figures based on information provided by the American military.
Deaths in April could still climb, but are not likely to top the 84 American deaths in November. The April figure is more than double the 31 troops killed in March, one of the lowest monthly tolls of the war, according to the group's statistics.
Though American deaths have fluctuated since the invasion in 2003, they had been falling since November, when the toll fell to 84 from 96 the previous month.
American deaths reached a peak in April and November of 2004, topping 100 in both months, when the military fought operations in Najaf and Falluja.
The soldier, whose name had not yet been released, was killed at 7:15 p.m. on Thursday in an explosion that tore into his vehicle when it hit a roadside bomb north of Baghdad.
The military also announced the death of a man it identified as a senior leader of Al Qaeda in the city of Samarra, north of Baghdad. An assault force of American troops killed the man, identified as Hamadi Abd al-Takhi al-Nissani, as he tried to flee a house about nine miles north of the city on Friday, the military said in a statement. Two other men inside the house were also killed, it said, one as he tried to throw a grenade at American forces.
The death toll continued to rise from a coordinated series of insurgent attacks on Thursday near Baquba, 30 miles northeast of Baghdad, which led to street battles with Iraqi government forces.
The fighting began around 1:30 p.m., when insurgents fired mortars and rocket-propelled grenades at five police checkpoints, a police station and an Iraqi Army building, officials said.
The series of attacks, unusual in their intensity and duration — the American military said in a statement that one attack involved more than 100 insurgents — seemed aimed at gaining control over a swath of fertile land that is central to the security of the capital.
Local residents, predominantly Sunni Arabs, have been staunchly opposed to the American occupation, and the area has long been a haven for Sunni Arab guerrilla fighters.
Earlier tallies put the death toll at 36, including 21 insurgents, 11 Iraqi police officers and soldiers, and 2 civilians. The Associated Press on Friday cited an Iraqi police official, Maj. Gen. Ahmed al-Awad, as saying the toll had climbed to 58.
On Friday, the city was placed under a curfew, but fighting continued in some areas. The Associated Press reported that witnesses saw at least two wounded police officers being carried away.
The insurgents who staged the Baquba attacks were drawn from four groups from Diyala Province, said a Baquba police official who declined to be identified because he feared reprisals.
In Baghdad, authorities found the bodies of two men. In the northern city of Kirkuk, a child was killed and two were injured when a roadside bomb aimed at American forces exploded, said Col. Mahmoud Hussein of the Kirkuk police. In Falluja, west of Baghdad, gunmen killed two Iraqi police officers around 9 p.m. on Thursday.
One of Iraq's vice presidents, Adel Abdul Mahdi, offered a new count of Iraqis who have been displaced because of sectarian violence. Speaking in the southern city of Najaf, Mr. Mahdi said about 100,000 families had been forced to flee their homes nationwide, Reuters reported. Previously, the Iraqi government estimated that about 11,000 families had been forced to flee.
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Tens of Thousands in NYC Protest War
Filed at 4:03 a.m. ET
NEW YORK (AP) -- Tens of thousands of protesters marched Saturday through lower Manhattan to demand an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, just hours after this month's death toll reached 70.
Cindy Sheehan, a vociferous critic of the war whose soldier son also died in Iraq, joined in the march, as did actress Susan Sarandon and the Rev. Jesse Jackson.
''End this war, bring the troops home,'' read one sign lifted by marchers on the sunny afternoon, three years after the war in Iraq began. The mother of a Marine killed two years ago in Iraq held a picture of her son, born in 1984 and killed 20 years later.
One group marched under the banner ''Veterans for Peace.''
The demonstrators stretched for about 10 blocks as they headed down Broadway. Organizers said 300,000 people marched, though a police spokesman declined to give an estimate. There were no reports of arrests.
''We are here today because the war is illegal, immoral and unethical,'' said the Rev. Al Sharpton. ''We must bring the troops home.''
Organizers said the march was also meant to oppose any military action against Iran, which is facing international criticism over its nuclear program. The event was organized by the group United for Peace and Justice.
''We've been lied to, and they're going to lie to us again to bring us a war in Iran,'' said Marjori Ramos, 43, of New York. ''I'm here because I had a lot of anger, and I had to do something.''
Steve Rand, an English teacher from Waterbury, Vt., held a poster announcing, ''Vermont Says No to War.''
''I'd like to see our troops come home,'' he said.
The march stepped off shortly after noon from Union Square, with the demonstrators heading for a rally between a U.S. courthouse and a federal office building in lower Manhattan.
The death toll in Iraq for April was the highest for a single month in 2006. At least 2,399 U.S. military members have died since the war began. An Army soldier was the latest victim, killed Saturday in a roadside explosion in Baghdad.
That figure is well below some of the bloodiest months of the Iraq conflict, but is a sharp increase over March, when 31 were killed. January's death toll was 62 and February's 55. In December, 68 Americans died.
