November's death toll high in Iraq

November was the deadliest month yet for the American military in Iraq.

Seventy-seven U.S. servicemen and women have died -- compared with 73 in the previous two months combined.

Including six Americans killed in Afghanistan, November was the most costly month for the military since February 1991, when 162 U.S. troops were killed in the climax of the first Gulf War.

Helicopter crashes on Nov. 2, 7 and 15 killed a total of 39 soldiers. Before last month, the insurgency had scant success in targeting U.S. helicopters or other aircraft.

Coincidentally, five of the six killed in Afghanistan in November also were in an aircraft crash -- an Air Force MH-53 special operations helicopter that went down near Bagram on Nov. 23. That crash is under investigation and may not have been caused by hostile fire.

U.S. officials in Iraq said last week that the number of attacks against Americans have declined in late November, although fatal attacks against Iraqis seen to be working with U.S. occupation authorities have become more frequent. U.S. military officials attributed the decline in attacks on their troops to improved intelligence and their stepped-up offensive against insurgents.

Lt. Gen. Richardo Sanchez, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, told reporters Saturday in Baghdad that guerrilla attacks on U.S.-led forces have dropped by 30 percent in the past two weeks, from a daily average of 35 to 22. Earlier this month, the total reached as high as 50 attacks per day, Sanchez said.

Since the war in Iraq began March 20, 438 service members have died, according to an Associated Press tally based on Pentagon and Central Command announcements of each incident. Of the total, 299 are attributed to hostile action; the others are from illness, suicide or other nonhostile causes.

By comparison, 97 U.S. troops have been killed in Afghanistan since that war began in October 2001. There are about 10,000 troops there, compared with about 130,000 in Iraq.

The United States' allies in Iraq also have suffered losses. The British military has reported 52 deaths; Italy, 17; Spain 10; Denmark, Ukraine and Poland have reported one each.

Spanish fatalities include an ambush on Saturday of a team of Spanish intelligence officers. Seven agents were killed. Two Japanese diplomats were shot to death Saturday in a separate attack.

The two attacks came a little more than two weeks after 19 Italians were killed in a suicide bombing appeared aimed at undercutting the cohesion of the U.S.-led coalition, which includes more than 30 countries.

Until November the deadliest month of the Iraq war had been April, with 73 killed, mostly in the climatic final stage of the drive to Baghdad. Until recently the casualty trend had been downward, with the monthly tally of dead falling from 46 in July to 35 in August and 31 in September.