From today’s Washington Post:

Nine U.S. soldiers also were killed over the weekend in and around Baghdad, the U.S. military said Monday, making it one of the most lethal weekends for American troops in recent months. Seven U.S. soldiers were killed by roadside bomb attacks and one by gunfire on Sunday, while another soldier was killed by a roadside bomb on Saturday.

And this:

The violence comes amid assertions by the Iraqi government and the U.S. military that they are clamping down on lawlessness and prevailing over extremists fueling the sectarian unrest gripping the capital.
Over the past week, attacks in Baghdad province averaged about 23 a day, lower than the monthly average for July, Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell, a U.S. military spokesman, told reporters Monday. Baghdad’s average daily homicide rate also dropped 46 percent from July to August, he added.
Roadside bombs, too, decreased by 50 percent last week to a total of eight, making for the lowest monthly average in nearly eight months, he said. However that figure dramatically changed with the spike in roadside bombs over the weekend, he added.