and so it goes
Deadliest day for U.S. in Iraq war
31 Marines killed in chopper crash; 5 troops in other incidents
Wednesday, January 26, 2005 Posted: 10:18 AM EST (1518 GMT)
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Thirty-one Marines were killed in a helicopter crash near Iraq's border with Jordan, bringing the number of U.S. troops killed Wednesday to 36 -- the deadliest day for U.S. forces since the start of the war in Iraq.
Four U.S. Marines were killed during combat in Iraq's Al-Anbar province, and a U.S. soldier died when insurgents attacked a combat patrol north of Baghdad, according to the U.S. military.
The cause of the chopper crash was not immediately known and is being investigated, according to the military.
Wednesday's death toll surpassed the 31 U.S. forces killed on March 23, 2003 -- four days after the start of the war in Iraq. Twenty-nine of them died in combat that day.
Wednesday's incidents brought the U.S. death toll in the war to 1,417.