Roadside Bomb Kills Five Marines in Iraq

By FRANK GRIFFITHS
Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- A roadside bomb attack killed five U.S. Marines, and gunfire killed an American sailor in a western Iraqi town, the U.S. military said Thursday.

Snip

The Marines died Wednesday after their vehicle was attacked near Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, the military said. Officials in Ramadi had reported a roadside bomb blast in the pre-dawn hours.

A sailor attached to the Marines' unit, the 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, was also killed Wednesday in Ramadi by gunfire, the military said.



The Sailor was probably a "Corpsman" (medic).

We have up armored our vehicles, but the insurgency have up IDE their bombs. They are using artillery rounds. Using a small explosion to set off the artillery round.

Semper Fi

Update:

From Reuters

U.S. officers have said some rebels have been using "shaped charges," which concentrate blasts onto a small area allowing them to penetrate even the heavy armor of tanks.

Improvised explosive devices, as the troops call them, are the biggest single threat to Americans in Iraq. Though many are spotted and defused, dozens go off every day.

Five U.S. marines killed by bomb in Western Iraq