WASHINGTON, Aug 28: Already 138 US soldiers have been killed in Iraq since May 1, when President Bush declared an end to major combat operations, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

The report says this equals the number of soldiers who “perished during the six weeks of fighting that marked the fall of Baghdad and its immediate aftermath.”

The figure of 138 includes not only those killed by enemy fire but also those who died as a result of vehicle accidents, drowning, medical problems or other factors unrelated to combat.

The Post says that the US Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Gulf region, has provided little information about the reported deaths. Official announcements have tended to consist of no more than a few sentences citing the general cause of a death and offering a cursory description of the circumstances involved.

But the announcements over time have revealed some telling trends, particularly when compared with casualty patterns before May 1, says the report.

During the invasion and immediate aftermath, many of the US combat deaths resulted from military ambushes, artillery fire and helicopter crashes. Since then, most soldiers have died from attacks involving rocket-propelled grenades, small-arms fire and what the military calls “improvised explosive devices,” or homemade bombs — all reflecting the less conventional character of the fighting.

Another significant difference is where U.S. soldiers are dying. During the war, the bulk of the deaths took place south of Baghdad as US troops surged from Kuwait toward the Iraqi capital. In recent months, just over half the US hostile casualties have occurred in Baghdad, and an additional quarter has come in the “Sunni triangle” bounded by Baghdad and the towns of Ar Ramadi and Tikrit, where some of the fiercest resistance to the US-led reconstruction effort has been concentrated.

The majority of US soldiers killed since May 1 have been lower ranking enlisted members. But four officers have died from hostile fire, and so have 24 non-commissioned officers. And although more than half of the dead troops were under 30 years old, 15 were in their 30s, one was 40 and another was 54.

No female soldiers have died from hostile fire since May 1. And no deaths in the past four months have resulted from mistaken fire by US or allied troops.