CSMS Magazine Staff Writer

 News agencies reported Saturday that twenty US soldiers were killed in Iraq during military operations. This has made Saturday the deadliest day for U.S. forces in two years. Five were reported killed in the holy city of Karbala, 50 miles south of Baghdad. Another 13 died in a helicopter crash, according to sources from the US military. Karbala Gov. Akeel al-Khazaali had reported earlier that U.S. troops raided the provincial headquarters looking for wanted men but left with no prisoners—an information denied by general Brooks. The general did not identify any group suspected of staging the attack, but residents reached by telephone had reported seeing military helicopters flying over the local headquarters of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.Al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia, which has been accused of playing a big role in sectarian killings, has been hit repeatedly in recent weeks by operations in which key commanders have been captured or killed by U.S. and Iraqi troops.The U.S. military also announced that an Army soldier in Nineveh province was killed and a Marine in Anbar province, a Sunni insurgent stronghold west of the capital, was also killed, bringing the death toll to 20. The toll in Friday may be higher since the Marines, according to The Associated Press, are notorious at delaying death reports.In another operation south Baghdad, U.S. helicopters dropped Iraqi police commandos into the dangerous Dora neighborhood to stage a raid on the Omar Brigade, an al-Qaida-linked Sunni militant group, Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul-Karim Khalaf said. It was reported that many insurgents were killed.            This new death toll could signal what is forthcoming for US soldiers from the Iraqi resistance in response to George Bush’s troop “surge.” While dozens of US service men are dying each month and thousands are being wounded coupled with thousands of Iraqis slaughtered, one wonders when will the carnage end?Also see: Bush’s Iraq’s “surge” policy goes full gearand Saddam Hussein execution: Victor’s justice of Shiiah Islam under US protectionismand The execution of Saddam Hussein: Was justice served?