By The Associated Press

As of Monday, Jan. 2, 2006, at least 2,180 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. At least 1,705 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military’s numbers. The figures include five military civilians.

The AP count is seven more than the Defense Department’s tally, last updated at 10 a.m. EST Friday.

The British military has reported 98 deaths; Italy, 27; Ukraine, 18; Poland, 17; Bulgaria, 13; Spain, 11; Slovakia, three; Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Netherlands, Thailand, two each; Hungary, Kazakhstan, Latvia one death each.

Since May 1, 2003, when President Bush declared that major combat operations in Iraq had ended, 2,041 U.S. military members have died, according to AP’s count. That includes at least 1,596 deaths resulting from hostile action, according to the military’s numbers.

The latest identifications reported by the military:

• Army Sgt. 1st Class Shawn Christopher Dostie, 32, Lewiston, Maine, killed Friday near Baghdad when a roadside bomb exploded; assigned to the Army’s D Company 2nd-502nd Infantary Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, Ky.

• Army Spc. Marcelino R. Corniel, 23, La Puente, Calif., killed Saturday in Baghdad by a mortar attack; assigned to the Army National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 184th Infantry Regiment, Fullerton, Calif.

• Army Staff Sgt. Christopher J. Vanderhorn, 37, Pierce, Wash., killed Sunday in As Sinia after an explosive detonated near his vehicle; assigned to the Army’s 1st Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, Ky.

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