The US Army said Monday it has extended the deployment of thousands of 3rd Infantry Division soldiers in Iraq due to increased attacks against coalition forces, dashing hopes that the troops would be home by September.

Former Iraqi government employees try to submit their petition to U.S. soldiers guarding the former Presidential Palace which now houses the U.S. administration in Iraq Monday, July 14, 2003, in Baghdad. The former employees, who lost their jobs following the ouster of Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein are demanding they be rehired. [AP]

The 3rd Infantry Division deployed 16,500 troops to Iraq and was a leading force in the assault on Baghdad. The division suffered 36 deaths — more than any other unit in the war — and some of its troops have been in the region since September.

Maj. Gen. Buford C. Blount III, the division's commander, said last week he hoped the division's 1st and 2nd Brigade Combat Teams of roughly 9,000 soldiers could return home to Fort Stewart within the next six weeks.

But homecomings for those soldiers, as well as the division's 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, have now been postponed indefinitely.

The units have been ordered to stay "due to the uncertainty of the situation in Iraq and the recent increase in attacks on the coalition forces," Blount said in an e-mail message to Army spouses.

Blount said in the e-mail, obtained by The Associated Press, that he could not say how long the soldiers would remain in Iraq. "I wish I could tell you how long ... but everything I have told you before has changed," he said.

The news upset family members.

"Don't do that to us. Don't pull on our heartstrings that way," said Julie Galloway, whose husband, Sgt. Michael Galloway, deployed in November.

It's the second time 3rd Infantry soldiers have seen the Army renege on a tentative return date. After US President Bush declared the heavy fighting over May 1, many families were told to prepare for homecomings in June.

"Every time a soldier is shot and killed it comes to mind — is that my husband?" said Tasha Moore, whose husband, Capt. Daniel Moore, deployed in February. "I don't think the government understands what a husband or a wife or children are going through every day."

Several thousand 3rd Infantry troops, including the 3rd Brigade Combat Team based at Fort Benning in Columbus, began returning last week. Their homecomings are not affected.

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