The US military said three American soldiers died in a roadside bombing north of Baghdad on Monday, bringing to eight the number of troops who died that day. The last time so many US military personnel were killed in Iraq was September 10, when 10 died.

Bloodshed has increased recently, despite what the military said has been a 60 per cent drop in attacks across Iraq since June. Last Thursday, two massive bombs killed 68 people in Baghdad’s Karradah neighbourhood. On March 3, two car bombings killed 24 people in the capital.

According to an AP count, at the height of unrest from November 2006 to August 2007, on average about 65 Iraqis died each day as a result of violence. As conditions improved, the daily death toll steadily declined. It reached its lowest point in more than two years on January 2008, when on average 20 Iraqis died each day.
Those numbers have since jumped. In February, about 26 Iraqis died each day as a result of violence, and so far in March, that number is up to 39 daily.

These figures reflect the months in which people were found, and not necessarily – in the case of mass graves – the months in which they were killed.

Military spokesman Rear Admiral Gregory Smith said recent violence should not be taken as evidence of “an increase or a trend of an increase”.

“I think we need to continue to look at historically what has happened over the last year to really put in perspective a one-week or two-weeks’ worth of activity inside Baghdad,” Smith said.