Nine U.S. troops killed in Iraq

Story Highlights

• Five killed by roadside bombs, four in other actions
• 51 bodies found in Baghdad, likely victims of sectarian violence
• Six insurgents killed in coalition raids, military says

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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Nine U.S. troops died in Iraq during the weekend, including five killed by roadside bombs, the U.S. military reported Sunday.

Two soldiers were killed and two wounded Sunday when a roadside bomb exploded near their vehicle in northern Iraq, U.S. commanders in the northern city of Tikrit announced. The soldiers were assigned to the Army's 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division.

Two U.S. soldiers and a Marine died from unspecified "enemy action" in western Iraq's Anbar province Saturday, the American command in Baghdad reported, while two U.S. soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb.

Anbar, including the provincial capital Ramadi, has been a hotbed of the mostly Sunni Arab insurgency against U.S. troops that emerged after the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

And two American soldiers were reported killed in Baghdad -- one slain by a roadside bomb Saturday, another killed in fighting Sunday.

The latest deaths bring the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq to 2,900, including including seven civilians working for the Defense Department.

Other developments

Iraqi police found 51 bodies across the Iraqi capital, all shot to death, a Baghdad emergency police official said Sunday. Some were blindfolded with bound hands, and showed signs of torture. They are believed to be victims of the Sunni-Shiite sectarian warfare.

In overnight raids northeast of Baghdad, coalition forces killed six insurgents and destroyed a foreign fighter safe house, the U.S. military said Sunday. Troops used an airstrike with precision fire to destroy a targeted safe house, killing five insurgents. Three Iraqi civilians -- two women and a child -- were also killed in the airstrike. Troops then killed one insurgent and arrested three others after investigating a nearby building.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said an international conference on the violence in Iraq is not needed, The Associated Press reported. "We are an independent and a sovereign nation, and it is we who decide the fate of the nation," AP quoted Talabani as saying. (Watch reaction to Rumsfeld memo calling for course correction)

President Bush will get a report and recommendations from the bipartisan Iraq Study Group on Wednesday, and national security adviser Stephen Hadley said Sunday, "The president understands that we need to have a way forward in Iraq that is more successful." (Full story)

A military news release Sunday said an Air Force pilot whose F-16 crashed near Baghdad last week is now listed as "killed in action." (Full story)

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