Two US soldiers were killed in an explosion in Iraq's Diyala province northeast of Baghdad yesterday, the US military said in a statement today.
Their deaths took to at least 112 the number of soldiers killed in December, the deadliest month for Americans in Iraq for more than two years and to at least 3,001 the number killed since the invasion in March 2003.
Coffins of US military personnel are prepared to be offloaded at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware
The rising death toll is likely to be seized on by critics of George W. Bush's conduct of the war.
But Mr Bush's spokesman Scott Stanzel said the president "grieves for each one that is lost".
He added: "He will ensure their sacrifice was not made in vain."
Mr Bush is to unveil a new strategy on Iraq this month, which could include sending more troops to try to quell the violence in which hundreds of Iraqi civilians die every week.
Fellow Sunni Arabs at Saddam's graveside in his native village, Awja, yesterday vowed revenge on the Americans and Iraq's Shia-led government, and vented their fury at Shia officials seen in an Internet video taunting him on the gallows.
"The Persians have killed him. I can't believe it. By God, we will take revenge," said one man from Mosul, referring to Iraq's new leaders ties to Iran.
"All we can do now is take it out against the Americans and the government," another mourner said.
Mr Bush, who is on holiday at his Texas ranch, has been considering a range of options for Iraq, but he has rejected the idea of a timetable for withdrawing US troops.