surge update - 3 U.S. Soldiers Killed in Southern Iraq

[spanone]

BAGHDAD — Three American soldiers were killed after insurgents fired mortar rounds into a United States military base in southern Iraq, an area of the country that has been largely free of the violence that continues to plague the northern part of the country.

The incident occurred Thursday evening, but the American military did not report it until Friday. The identities of the soldiers have not yet been released.

Though American combat forces withdrew from Iraq’s cities on June 30, thousands of troops remain stationed at bases outside urban areas.

The base struck by mortar rounds on Thursday, Contingency Operating Base Basra, is about 20 miles outside Basra, Iraq’s second-largest city.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/world/middleeast/18iraq.html?_r=1&hpw=&pagewanted=print