Dec. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Six soldiers were killed in bomb attacks in and around Iraq's capital Baghdad on Dec. 23, bringing this month's death toll to at least 82, the U.S. military said in four statements e-mailed yesterday.

Three Military Police Brigade soldiers were killed and one wounded when their vehicle was hit by an explosive device in east Baghdad. Two soldiers were killed and four injured by separate roadside bombs southeast and southwest of the capital, while a Task Force Lightning soldier was killed and one injured from an explosion in Diyala Province, northeast of the capital, the military said.

The latest casualties bring the total number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion to about 2,963, based on the statements and official Department of Defense tolls. The number of deaths this month already exceeds the 67 who died during November.

President George W. Bush is considering increasing the number of U.S. troops to suppress sectarian violence in Iraq, where attacks averaged almost 1,000 attacks a week between Aug. 12 and Nov. 10, a record, the Pentagon said in a Dec. 19 quarterly report on the conflict.

As many as 57,019 Iraqi civilians have been killed in the conflict as of Dec. 24, according to Iraq Body Count, a London- based non-profit organization that keeps count of reported deaths in the country.

An Iraqi Army patrol rescued 16 kidnap victims during a raid on a house in Baghdad's Mansour district on Dec. 22, the military said in a separate e-mailed statement. Six adults and 10 children were freed following a tip-off, the statement said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Stuart Biggs in Tokyo at sbiggs3@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: December 24, 2006 22:44 EST