BAGHDAD, Dec 21 (AFP) - The reported killing of at least 22 people, including a number of US troops, in an attack on a US military base in the Iraqi city of Mosul on Tuesday is one of the bloodiest blows to coalition forces since the US-led invasion of March 2003.
Below is a list of the most lethal attacks on coalition forces since May 1, 2003, the date US President George W. Bush declared major combat operations over.
2004
- Dec 21: At least 22 people are reportedly killed, including a number of US troops, in an attack on a US military base in the northern city of Mosul in an attack claimed by the Al-Qaeda linked Army of Ansar al-Sunna.
- Oct 30: Eight US marines are killed and 10 others wounded in a car bomb attack near the then rebel-held city of Fallujah, west of Baghdad.
- Oct 14: Five people, including three US civilians, are killed in two bombings in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone. The group of Jordanian Islamist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, also linked to Al-Qaeda, claimed the attacks.
- Sept 6: Seven US soldiers and three Iraqi national guards are killed in a car bomb attack near Fallujah claimed by Zarqawi's group.
- July 8: Five US soldiers and four Iraqi national guards are killed in a mortar attack on the national guard headquarters at Samarra, north of Baghdad. The attack is claimed by Zarqawi's group.
- June 8: Six coalition troops (two Polish, one Lithuanian and three Slovakians) are killed in a mortar attack at Al-Suwayrah, south of Baghdad.
- June 4: Five US troops are killed and four others wounded when their convoy is attacked on the outskirts of Baghdad's impoverished Sadr City district.
- May 2: Six US soldiers are killed and 30 wounded in a mortar attack on a US base close to Ramadi, west of the capital.
- April 29: Eight US soldiers are killed in a car bomb attack in Mahmudiya, south of Baghdad.
- April 17: Five US Marines are killed in fighting at Hussaibah, close to the Syrian frontier.
- April 6: Twelve US Marines are killed in Ramadi, west of Baghdad.
- April 4: Seven US soldiers die in Baghdad's Sadr City as radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr starts his rebellion.
- March 31: Five US soldiers are killed by a roadside bomb in the restive Al-Anbar province, west of Baghdad.
On the same day, four US defence contractors are killed and their bodies mutilated and put on display in Fallujah.
- Feb 18: Seven Iraqis are killed and 58 coalition troops are among 86 wounded in a double suicide car bomb attack on a Polish base at Hilla, south of Baghdad.
- Jan 18: At least 25 people, mainly Iraqis, are killed and 130 wounded in a suicide car bombing outside the US headquarters in Baghdad.
- Jan 8: A US helicopter is shot down near Fallujah, killing nine soldiers on board.
2003
- Dec 27: Seven coalition forces -- five Bulgarians and two Thais -- are among 19 killed in car bomb attacks in the central Iraqi city of Karbala, while 34 troops are wounded.
- Nov 29: Seven Spanish intelligence agents are killed when they are attacked while travelling south of Baghdad.
- Nov 15: Two US helicopters collide near Mosul, killing 17, after one manoeuvered to avoid a rocket-propelled grenade attack.
- Nov 12: A truck bomb attack in Nasiriyah, southern Iraq, kills 28 people, including 19 Italians in the worst attack on Italian troops since World War II.
- Nov 7: Six US soldiers are killed when their helicopter is shot down by a rocket near Tikrit, north of the capital.
- Nov 2: A US helicopter is shot down near Fallujah, killing 16 troops and wounding 26.
- June 24: Six British military police are killed at Al-Majar al-Kabir in the Shiite south of the country, reportedly by inhabitants exasperated by house searches.
12/21/2004 17:29 GMT - AFP