The United States military has made it known that yet another American soldier has lost his life due to non-combat related injures in conflict-stricken Iraq, PressTv reported.
"A Multi-National Division-Baghdad soldier died, Nov. 27, of non-combat related injuries," according to a US Army statement issued on Friday. The identity of the deceased is being withheld pending notification of next of kin and release by the Department of Defense.
The latest casualty brings the November death toll for US troops in Iraq to ten, raising the total so far this year to 145.
The US military has lost a total of 4,366 soldiers since the March 2003 invasion of the oil-rich country.
A total of 314 US troops lost their lives in 2008. The preceding year, 2007, nonetheless remains the deadliest year the US military has seen in Iraq, with a death toll of 904.
The United States sustained a loss of 822 servicemen in 2006 plus 846 in 2005. Some 849 soldiers were killed in 2004, and 486 lost their lives in 2003.
More than one million Iraqis have died due to the war, according to data compiled by the London-based Opinion Research Business (ORB) and its research partner in Iraq, the Independent Institute for Administration and Civil Society Studies (IIACSS).
Moreover, a fifth of Iraqi households have lost at least one family member due to the conflict. The United Nations estimates the number of displaced persons at more than four million, nearly half of whom have fled to neighboring countries, particularly Syria.
Meanwhile, a Katyusha rocket targeted a sprawling US military base operating on the outskirts of Diwaniya in Iraq's southern province of Qadisiyah.
A local police source told the Aswat al-Iraq news agency that a Katyusha round landed Friday inside Camp Echo, which is located 3 kilometers (nearly 2 miles) west of Diwaniya. There has been no word on the number of casualties.
The source added American and Iraqi forces cordoned off the area and launched a full-scale investigation into the event. A US military helicopter also buzzed low and hovered pensively over the site. A missile launching pad was eventually seized near the camp.
The rocket attack comes a week after a number of mortar shells struck US military bases on the outskirts of Tikrit in Iraq's northern province of Salahuddin.