BAGHDAD, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Three U.S. soldiers were killed in combat on Thursday in Iraq's volatile western Anbar province, the U.S. military said in a statement on Friday.

It gave no details of the incident, but Anbar is the main stronghold of Sunni Arab insurgents fighting U.S. forces and the Shi'ite-led government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. It is the deadliest region in Iraq for American troops.

U.S. President George W. Bush is sending some 4,000 more troops to the province to bolster efforts there to crush the unrelenting insurgency.

Thursday's deaths brought to 3,154 the number of American soldiers killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Seventy soldiers have died so far this month.

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