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U.S. combat deaths in Iraq appear headed to the lowest monthly total since the war started, U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus said, cautioning that progress in reducing overall violence could be undone easily, as the suicide bombings Monday that killed more than 60 Iraqis indicate, USA Today reported Tuesday.

"If you could reduce these sensational attacks further, I think you are almost approaching a level of normal or latent violence", Petraeus said in a telephone interview with the newspaper Monday from Iraq.

In July, six U.S. combat deaths have been recorded, information in USA Today's database indicates. The lowest monthly number was eight in May 2003, about a month after the invasion.

The last of five extra brigades sent to Iraq as part of the surge in 2007 left that country this month, lowing U.S. troop levels to about 140,000. After a requested quiet time for assessments, Petraeus is expected to make future troop level recommendations in late August or early September.

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