Casualties

U.S. military officials in Afghanistan have halted the practice of releasing the number of militants killed in fighting with American-led forces as part of an overall strategy shift that emphasizes concern for the local civilian population's well-being rather than hunting insurgent groups. The decision has triggered a quiet but fierce debate among military officers comparing the current situation with the U.S.

The month began with a fatal roadside bombing and ended with word that an American had died of wounds suffered in a firefight. After nearly eight years of warfare in Afghanistan, July proved by far the deadliest month yet for U.S. troops and their foreign allies. Bombs and rocket attacks, ambushes and aviation accidents killed many of the 72 foreign troops, including 43 Americans, according to data at the website icasualties.org. Previously, the highest monthly U.S.

The remains of a Navy pilot shot down at the onset of the Persian Gulf War -- the first U.S. combat casualty of the 1991 conflict -- have been recovered by Marines in western Iraq and identified by military specialists. The findings, based on dental records, appear to finally bring to an end the mystery of just what happened to Navy Capt. Michael Scott Speicher. Then-Defense Secretary Dick Cheney had announced that Speicher was the first U.S.

The Defense Department last week identified the following American military personnel killed in Afghanistan and Iraq: Christopher S. Frost, 24, of Waukesha, Wis.; staff sergeant, Air Force. Frost was killed Monday along with seven members of the Iraqi air force when their Russian-built MI-17 transport helicopter crashed in a sandstorm near Baiji, Iraq, north of Baghdad. He was assigned to the 377th Air Base Wing at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M. -- Steven R. Koch, 23, of Milltown, N. J.; specialist, Army.

Nine Colombian army soldiers were killed in a bloody confrontation with leftist guerrillas early Tuesday along a well-known transit corridor in southwestern Colombia frequented by drug traffickers and insurgents. Analysts believe the attack may be part of a campaign by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, to step up its activities before next year's presidential election. President Alvaro Uribe, whose policies have set the FARC back on its heels since he took office in 2002, is expected to seek a third term.

The grief-numbed parents of Hermosillo buried their babies and waited for answers. When none came, they marched. When they got desperate, they traveled the thousand miles to Mexico City and marched some more. They carried banners with photos of their children -- 48 in all -- killed when fire tore through a crowded day-care center named ABC. More than a month after the June 5 blaze in the northern state of Sonora, satisfying answers are in short supply.

Restaurant owner Lyra Quitay is blind in one eye. Her arms, chest and legs bear painful black scars and her right hand is so gnarled that it resembles a claw when she signs her name. In October 2001, a terrorist's bomb ripped through the claustrophobic downtown market where Quitay runs a tiny kitchen, instantly killing her security guard and blowing a hole in her life. The guard had gone to investigate an abandoned duck egg cart; when he opened the lid on a pot, it exploded -- ripping off his head and leaving Quitay with injuries so severe that she still wakes up crying at night.

A remote-controlled car bomb blasted a passing bus transporting soldiers in southern Turkey on Thursday, killing five people and wounding scores more, authorities said. The attack in the city of Diyarbakir, in Turkey's predominantly Kurdish southeast, appeared to be the latest in a raging border battle between Turkish forces and Kurdish separatist rebels, most of whom are based in northern Iraq.