The US military has confirmed five Marine deaths so far and says about 100 insurgents have been killed in the Qaim operation. But a Washington Post reporter embedded with US forces put the American death toll Thursday at seven -- six of them from one squad.
On Friday, an American soldier was killed and four others wounded when a car bomb exploded in Beiji, 250km north of Baghdad, the military said in a statement.
At least 1,613 members of the US military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
New interim prime minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, extended Iraq's state of emergency for another 30 days Friday throughout Iraq, except the northern Kurdish-run areas.
The state of emergency, renewed monthly since being first imposed Nov. 7 -- hours before the Fallujah offensive, includes a nighttime curfew and gives security forces powers of arrest without warrants.
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