Baghdad, Iraq – A suicide bomber plowed a car loaded with explosives into an American checkpoint in Baghdad on Monday evening, killing four American soldiers in the single deadliest suicide bombing against an American target in more than four months.
The bomber struck the checkpoint about 5 p.m. on a road in southern Baghdad, said Spec. Ricardo Branch of the 3rd Infantry Division, the Army unit that patrols the capital.
The deaths brought to at least 2,051 the number of U.S. military personnel who have died since the Iraq war started in 2003, according to an Associated Press count. At least 24 have died this month – most in roadside bombings.
Elsewhere, the military released a statement Monday saying it had disciplined five soldiers from the 75th Ranger Regiment, an elite Army unit, and had charged them with violations related to abusing detainees. The soldiers were charged with kicking and punching three detainees as they were waiting to be moved to a detention facility Sept. 7.
The suicide attack was the largest against U.S. troops since June, when a suicide car bomber drove into an American convoy in Fallujah, a rebellious city west of Baghdad, killing at least six people. Before that, the most lethal attack came in the spring of 2004, when a car bomber killed eight soldiers, also in southern Baghdad.
Suicide car bombings against American soldiers are rare, and the attack underscored the increasing skills of insurgents.
The attack came as U.S. Marines, assisted by Iraqi troops, fought insurgents for a third day in a major sweep in the town of Husaybah, an insurgent gateway into Iraq on the Syrian border.
Thousands of troops scoured about 350 city blocks, killing numerous insurgents and punching nearly to the eastern edge of town.
Several Marines were wounded in fighting Monday – officials did not release the exact number – but none were killed. Only one Marine has been killed in the operation, officials said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.