Washington, D.C. ? After an alarming spike in soldier suicides in January, the Army said Thursday there were another 18 suspected suicides last month.

The increase continues a four-year rise in an Army under stress from two wars.

“It’s a very high number, it’s very disturbing,” Col. Thomas Languirand, head of the Army suicide prevention program, said of February’s toll. “We’re taking every effort we can think of” to try to bring it down.

The Army normally releases figures on self-inflicted deaths only once a year. But because of the large number of 24 suspected in January, officials decided to announce monthly figures to focus attention on the problem and on prevention programs available.

Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Chiarelli said there were two confirmed suicides in February and 16 suspected but still being investigated — compared with 11 confirmed deaths in the same month of 2008.

Usually the vast majority of suspected suicides are eventually confirmed, but the investigations can take months.

For instance, when January figures were first released last month, officials said there were seven confirmed and 17 pending, a figure updated Thursday to 12 confirmed and 12 pending.