BAGHDAD, Iraq - Three US Marines were killed fighting in Anbar province, the area of western Iraq where many Sunni-Arab insurgents are based, the military said Thursday.

Iraqis take part in a funeral procession for two bodyguards of Iraqi deputy health minister, Hakim al-Zamili, who were killed in an attempted assassination in the Shi'ite district of Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2006. [AP]

Assigned to Regimental Combat Team 7, the Marines died Wednesday from wounds sustained during enemy action, the command said.

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The names of the deceased were withheld pending notification of relatives.

The deaths raised to at least 2,870 the number of US servicemen who have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

So far this month in Iraq, 52 American service members have been killed or died.

On Wednesday, at least 101 Iraqis died in the country's unending sectarian slaughter, and the UN reported that 3,709 Iraqi civilians were killed in October, the highest monthly toll of the war and one that is sure to be eclipsed when November's dead are counted.

The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq also said citizens were fleeing the country at a pace of 100,000 each month, and that at least 1.6 million Iraqis have left since the war began in March 2003.

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