U.S. tally of wounded drops 26%

The number of U.S. troops wounded in Iraq fell by more than a quarter in 2005 from a year earlier, Pentagon records show. Military officials call that a sign that insurgent attacks have declined in the face of elections and stronger Iraqi security forces.

The number of wounded dropped from 7,990 in 2004 to 5,939, according to the Defense Department. There hasn't been much change in the number of deaths, however. Pentagon figures show 844 U.S. troops were killed in the Iraq war during 2005, compared with 845 in 2004.

U.S. military leaders say that one of the biggest changes was in the number and quality of Iraqi forces. About three dozen Iraqi battalions, each with about 700 soldiers, are taking the lead in battling insurgents, said Army Lt. Gen. John Vines, commander of multinational forces in Iraq. There were no such battalions in early 2005, he said.

Vines told reporters in a videoconference Friday that violence also ebbed because some of the Sunni Arabs who make up the backbone of the insurgency decided to participate in last month's elections. "We have indicators that many who we believe may have been involved in violence are seeing that they can and must reject that violence," he said.

Another factor is the lack of the kind of fierce urban fighting that U.S. forces saw in Fallujah during 2004. Casualties spiked when forces led by Marines raided the insurgent stronghold in April and November 2004. The highest number of American troops wounded in battle for any month in Iraq was 1,424 that November.

Vines and other commanders say coalition and Iraqi forces also are doing a better job of preventing and disrupting planned attacks.

Army Maj. Gen. William Webster, the commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad, said the number of suicide car bombs and roadside bombs fell by half during 2005. Only about 10% of insurgent attacks cause injuries or damage now, down from about 25% a year ago, Webster said late last year.