19 U.S. soldiers are among the 24 killed today in the deadliest attack on U.S. forces in Iraq to date. It occurred in a mess tent near Mosul as the soldiers were eating lunch.

An explosion ripped through a mess tent at a military base near Mosul where hundreds of U.S. troops had just sat down to lunch Tuesday, and officials said more than 20 people were killed and at least 57 were wounded.

A military spokesman said 19 of the dead were American soldiers, which would make the attack the deadliest single strike against U.S. troops since the start of the Iraq war.

A radical Muslim group, the Ansar al-Sunnah Army, claimed responsibility. The dead included U.S. military personnel, U.S. contractors, foreign national contractors and Iraqi army, said Brig. Gen. Carter Ham, commander of Task Force Olympia in Mosul.

MSNBC says the soldiers base was Fort Lewis. Bush's comment: They died in a valiant struggle for peace.