U.S. deaths in Iraq hit 7-month high in April

BAGHDAD - The four U.S. soldiers killed in a series of roadside bombings yesterday lifted the number of American service members killed in April to a seven-month high of 50.

Civilian deaths reported by the Iraqi government also reached the highest levels in months as Baghdad experienced intense clashes triggered by an Iraqi government crackdown against Shiite Muslim militias.

U.S. commanders say Sunni Arab militants also are trying to reassert themselves by staging suicide bombings and other high-profile attacks in parts of the country where they have come under pressure since last year.

The spike in deaths raises questions about whether U.S. and Iraqi forces can consolidate last year's security gains as most of the additional 28,500 American troops deployed to the country return home.

"We have said all along this will be a tough fight," said Army Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner, a U.S. military spokesman. "There will be periods where we see the extremists, these criminal groups and al-Qaeda terrorists, seek to reassert themselves and reignite violence for their own purposes."

U.S. commanders will be relying increasingly on their Iraqi counterparts to provide security as the U.S. presence diminishes from a peak last year of about 170,000 to 140,000 in July.

Navy Rear Adm. Patrick Driscoll, another military spokesman, said the Iraqis added more than 105,000 to their forces in the time that the United States brought in five additional combat brigades. "So we've seen a substantial surge within a surge," he said.

U.S. commanders say the Iraqi military and police are becoming more capable. While they concede the government crackdown was poorly planned at the start, they say the Iraqi military quickly mobilized reinforcements and regained control of the southern oil hub of Basra with the help of U.S. and British air power.

But the government does not appear to have anticipated the fierce backlash from militiamen loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in Baghdad, where clashes continue daily.

Many of the militiamen's attacks are directed against U.S. forces, who have moved into the southern portion of the cleric's Sadr City stronghold in a bid to stop rockets and mortar rounds being fired from there toward their bases and the city's fortified Green Zone.

U.S. soldiers in Sadr City have faced assaults by militiamen wielding rocket-propelled grenades in roads laced with bombs and have responded with air strikes and tank fire.

While they say they make every effort to avoid civilian casualties, residents are often caught in the cross fire.

Civilian deaths reported by the Iraqi government for April reached 969, the highest figure since August, when 1,773 were recorded killed. At least 28 Iraqi soldiers and 69 police also were reported killed. Officials at two hospitals in Sadr City said they had received 321 bodies in the last month.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, himself a Shiite, lashed out yesterday at the militiamen, accusing them of using civilians as human shields. He vowed to disarm all militias, whether Sunni or Shiite. "There is only one army, and that is the army of the state," he said at a news conference broadcast on state-run television.

A total of 354 suspected militants were killed and 1,270 arrested in Baghdad alone last month, according to government figures.

Sadr's followers complain they are being unfairly singled out while Maliki's political allies are permitted to maintain armed wings. They accuse their Shiite rivals of using the crackdown to weaken the chances of Sadr's followers in provincial elections Oct. 1.

Two of the latest attacks against American troops happened in Baghdad, where three U.S. soldiers were killed in two separate bombings yesterday. Another soldier was killed in a similar attack in Nineweh province.

The number of U.S. military deaths in April was the highest since September, when 65 U.S. service members were killed. In April 2007, 104 service members were killed, according to figures compiled by the independent Web site icasualties.org

At least 4,063 U.S. personnel have been killed since the Iraq war began in March 2003, according to the Web site.

The level of violence has been inching up since January, after a 60 percent drop in attacks nationwide in the second half of last year, according to U.S. military figures.

Commanders attribute last year's decreased violence to the troop buildup, the decision of tens of thousands of Sunni tribesmen and former insurgents to fight against extremists, and a unilateral cease-fire declared by Sadr in August. That truce is in tatters since the crackdown against Shiite militias began March 25 in Basra.

CIA Director Michael Hayden

said yesterday that Iranian policy, at the highest government level, is to help kill Americans in Iraq - the boldest pronouncement by a U.S. official

to date of Iranian involvement.

Hayden made

the statement in response to a student question while delivering the Landon Lecture at Kansas State University.

"It is my opinion

, it is the policy of the Iranian government, approved to highest level of that government, to facilitate the killing of Americans in Iraq," Hayden said. "Just make sure there's clarity on that."

In recent weeks

, U.S. officials have ratcheted up their complaints that Iran is increasing its efforts to supply weapons and training to fighters in Iraq.

Two senior Pentagon

officials said yesterday that Iraqi leaders had been given the latest U.S. evidence of Iranian support for militias inside Iraq, and that Baghdad would decide what to do about it.

Marine Lt. Gen. John Sattler

, director of strategy, plans and policy for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki possessed the evidence, which other officials said contradicted Tehran's stated commitment to stop providing arms, weapons technology and training to Shiite militias inside Iraq.

The Iraqi leaders

hope to pressure Iran to stop aiding militias by presenting the latest evidence to Tehran, another senior defense official said on condition of anonymity. The official said it was not clear whether the Iranians had agreed to meet to discuss the evidence.

- Associated Press