Posted on 03/25/2003 12:09:39 AM PST by kattracks
Pentagon identifies 7 Marines killed in Iraq
WASHINGTON, March 25 (Reuters) - The Defense Department on Tuesday identified seven U.S. Marines killed in a firefight near the southern city of Nassiriya on Sunday, raising to 18 the total number of confirmed U.S. casualties in the Iraq war.
The Pentagon named those killed as Sgt. Michael Blitz, 31, of Ventura, California; Lance Cpl. David Fribley, 26, of Lee, Florida; Cpl. Jose Garibay, 21, of Orange, California; Cpl. Jorge Gonzalez, 20, of Los Angeles; Staff Sgt. Phillip Jordan, 42, of Brazoria, Texas; 2nd Lt. Frederick Pokorney Jr., 31, of Nye, Nevada; and Lance Cpl. Thomas Slocum, of Adams, Colorado.
Defense officials could not immediately confirm reports by journalists traveling with U.S. troops that another U.S. soldier was killed and one was injured in continued fighting Tuesday near Nassiriya, which commands two strategic bridges across the Euphrates River on the road to Baghdad.
U.S. forces used Cobra attack helicopters and artillery in Nassiriya on the sixth day of the U.S.-led war after trying since Sunday to seize the two vital bridges.
The final death toll from Sunday's fighting near Nassiriyah was less than initial estimates by U.S. Army Gen. John Abizaid, who told reporters on Sunday that up to nine U.S. service members had been killed in that area.
03/25/03 02:52 ET
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