A total of 1,623 US soldiers have been killed in Iraq since the war started in March 2003, statistics released by the Pentagon on Friday showed.

As of Friday morning, 1,244 American soldiers in Iraq have been killed in action, and 370 by non-hostile fire. Some 12,516 soldiers have been injured, with nearly half of them returning to duty within 72 hours.

Of the deaths, 1,480 were killed after May 1, 2003, when major combat operations were announced ended, and 139 were killed between March 19 and April 30, 2003.

In the military's "Operation Enduring Freedom," 186 US soldiers have been killed. Of them, 143 were killed in and around Afghanistan, and 43 in other locations. Seventy-four were killed in action and 112 by non-hostile fire. The number of injured soldiers was 311.

With the causalities rising in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US Army and Marines are having a difficult time to meet their recruiting targets this year.

The active-duty Army, planning to attract 80,000 recruits in fiscal 2005 ending Sept. 30, was 15 percent behind its year-to-date target in April, the third consecutive month that the Army missed its recruiting targets.

The Marine Corps was 9 percent, or 260 contracts, short of its goal of April, the fourth straight month that the service missed its recruiting goals.
 
(Xinhua News Agency May 21, 2005)