Seven soldiers from the United States Army died in two separate incidents in Iraq, military officials informed Friday.

Four marines died Thursday during clashes with militants in the western province of Anbar, security officials said without giving further details.

Also on Thursday, three servicemen lost their lives in the northern Nineveh province when a powerful explosion ripped through their vehicle. More than 3,750 US soldiers have been killed over the past four years in Iraq.

In other news, Iraqi media said Saddam Hussein’s former aides will be executed in the following days, after an appeals court confirmed their death sentences earlier this week.

Ali Hassan al-Majid, also known as “Chemical Ali,” Sultan Hashem Ahmed and Hussein Rashid Mohammed were all sentenced to death by hanging for their implication in a genocidal campaign launched two decades ago against Kurds living in northern Iraq.

The lawyer defending Hussein Rashid- the former deputy commander of Iraqi army operations- told media representatives that the executions will be carried out in the next two days. But prosecutors said no date has been established yet, because the sentence must be carried out within 30 days from the final ruling.

It is not clear whether the president has to give his approval for the execution, as the defendants’ lawyers said. President Jalal Talabani is known for his opposition to the death penalty and refused to sign a similar decree last year when Saddam Hussein was executed in December for crimes against humanity.

The al-Anfal campaign took the lives of thousands of Kurds in the late 1980s, entire villages being wiped of the map.