A new wave of roadside bomb attacks in Iraq claimed four more American lives during the weekend. Among the dead was a West Valley City man who was on his second tour of duty in the war-torn nation.
   
    Brandon A. Parr was a member of a military police company whose duties included training Iraqi police to take control of a central Baghdad neighborhood.
   
    The 25-year-old husband and father was killed in the Iraqi capital city along with two other soldiers Saturday in a roadside bomb attack. A separate attack in Tikrit claimed a fourth American life Sunday.
   
    Parr's family members were huddled Monday in their West Valley City home. Army officials said the family, who requested privacy as they mourn, was focused on reliving their fondest memories of Parr.
   
    In a statement, Parr's wife, Shannah, said her husband "loved life and family. . .
   
    "He was very funny, he made everyone feel good," she said. "He was the greatest husband and father."
   
    Brandon Parr was born in California's Central Valley but grew up in San Luis Obispo, about midway between Los Angeles and San Francisco on the state's Pacific Coast Highway.
   
    He met his wife - at a Salt Lake City dance club - not long after moving to Utah with his mother and stepfather. The couple married in 2001 after a six-month courtship.
   
    He joined the Army in 2003, about the same time Shannah gave birth to a son, Nicholas.
   
    "He felt it was something he had to do," Shannah Parr said.
   
    Shannah and Nicholas lived with Brandon Parr in Germany, where he was stationed with a military police brigade, but they returned to Utah during his Iraq deployments.
   
    His first tour, also in Baghdad, stretched between the summers of 2004 and 2005, a period of time during which insurgents' use of improvised explosive devices, also known as IEDs, jumped dramatically.
   
    Parr was the fifth service member from Utah to be killed in Iraq this year, according to a count by The Salt Lake Tribune. Four Utah service members were killed in Iraq in all of 2006.
   
    Eight of the past nine Utahns to die in Iraq were killed by IEDs, which have claimed more than 1,200 lives since the start of the war, according to Department of Defense records.
   
    With 70 deaths attributed to IEDs, December was the worst month so far for troops encountering the makeshift bombs, which Army officials believe were first employed by Baathist guerillas.
   
    The bombs, which have grown increasingly sophisticated, are now employed by Sunni insurgents and Shiite militants alike.
   
    While January and February saw a significant drop in the number of IED attacks, eight of 11 fatal incidents in Iraq so far this month have been caused by IEDs.
   
    Funeral plans for Parr, who was posthumously promoted to sergeant, have not been finalized.