Eight more U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Eight more U.S. soldiers have been killed in five previously unreported attacks in different areas of Iraq over the past four days, the U.S. military said on Saturday.

May is on track to be the bloodiest month this year for U.S. forces, with 101 soldiers killed so far. April was the worst month so far this year for U.S. forces, when 104 soldiers were killed.

A total of 3,452 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein in 2003.

In the worst of the latest attacks, three soldiers were killed and another two were wounded when their patrol was hit by an explosion in Salahaddin province north of Baghdad on Saturday.

Another two soldiers were killed and three were wounded by a roadside bomb east of Baghdad, the military said.

In other attacks, one soldier was killed and two were wounded by a roadside bomb in southern Baghdad on Saturday. Another soldier was killed and three more were wounded in Taji, 20 km (12 miles) north of Baghdad, on Friday, the military said.

A U.S. Marine was also killed in western Anbar province on Saturday.

Thousands of extra U.S. and Iraqi troops have been deployed around Baghdad and other areas as part of a security crackdown aimed at dragging Iraq back from the brink of all-out sectarian civil war between majority Shi'ites and Sunni Arabs dominant under Saddam.

The crackdown is meant to buy time for Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's weak and divided government to meet a series of political benchmarks set by Washington which are aimed at promoting national reconciliation.

The U.S. military has said it anticipated it would suffer more casualties while it has more troops on the streets during the crackdown.

On Thursday, President George W. Bush warned that a bloody summer lay ahead. He said insurgents and Sunni Islamist al Qaeda would likely increase attacks before General David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, hands him a progress report on Iraq in September.