Of the total, 98 were killed in combat fields, 12 others died in accidents, the Pentagon said.

Not included in the casualty figures was a US Marine, who was shot dead at a Baghdad checkpoint Saturday by a gunman.

The Marine, from the First Marine Expeditionary Force, was guarding a checkpoint at a medical facility when two men approached him posing as landscape workers, the Central Command said in a statement.

Marines nearby shot and killed one of the men, who was found to be carrying a Syrian identity card, while the other one fled the scene.

The Pentagon also said 399 US troops were wounded in battle fields or injured in accidents. Seven were known prisoners of war and nine were reported missing.

Thirty-one British troops have been killed in the war.

Neither Iraq nor the coalition has released an estimate of Iraqi military casualties. Iraq says at least 600 civilians have been killed and more than 4,000 wounded since the war began on March 20.

(Xinhua News Agency April 13, 2003)