The number of US troops killed in Iraq has hit 4,000, less than a week after the fifth anniversary of the war.
Four soldiers were killed on Easter Sunday when their patrol was attacked in southern Baghdad at around 10pm. On the same day, a wave of attacks left more than 60 Iraqis dead.
US Navy Lieutenant Patrick Evans expressed condolences to all the families of soldiers killed in Iraq, saying each death was "equally tragic".
"There have been some significant gains," he said. "However, this enemy is resilient and will not give up, nor will we. There's still a lot of work to be done."
The record number of fatalities comes despite a sharp drop in US and Iraqi deaths in recent months, after the 30,000-strong "surge" of US forces arrived in the country between February and June 2007.
But last year was the deadliest yet for US military personnel in Iraq, with 901 deaths - 51 more than in 2004, the second deadliest year for US soldiers.
Tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians have also been killed since the start of the war in March 2003.
Iraq's National Security Adviser Mouwaffak al-Rubaie said he sympathised with the American losses but warned against pulling out US troops before Iraqi forces are ready to take over their own security and the situation is sufficiently stable.
US President George W Bush has insisted the decline in violence shows his strategy is working and needs more time.
His position is backed by the Republican Party's presidential nominee-to-be, former Vietnam prisoner of war John McCain, but both Democratic presidential hopefuls, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, have promised a quick withdrawal of US troops if elected.
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