Iraq: Two US soldiers were killed near Mosul in northern Iraq early yesterday in a rare attack by anti-American guerrillas in an area so far from Baghdad. It brought to four the number of American deaths within 48 hours.
That can only add to pressure on the United States as it tries to persuade reluctant United Nations allies who opposed its invasion to share the burden of running Iraq.
Two soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division were killed and a third wounded when ambushed by guerrillas firing guns and rocket-propelled grenades, a US military spokesman said.
The incident near Tall Afur was in Sunni tribal lands but well beyond the so-called Sunni Triangle, the area north and west of the capital where the bulk of attacks have been concentrated and where most of the people are Sunni Muslims.
The latest deaths brought to 37 the total number of US troops killed by hostile action since President George Bush declared an end to major combat operations on May 1st.
As US troops began recruiting Iraqis over the weekend to form a new army in place of Saddam Hussein's large but rapidly routed force, the US regional commander said thousands of them could be armed to join the struggle against what Washington believes are small bands of pro-Saddam loyalists.
However, US troop numbers would have to stay at around 148,000 for at least the next three months, Gen John Abizaid told the Washington Post. The force would be made more mobile to fight the guerrillas, he said.
France and India have pressed for clear UN authority before committing any troops to help out. Controversy over the way the United States and Britain launched the war in the face of opposition from UN allies has not made the task of building a broader coalition any easier.
The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, has denied sending British troops to war to suit a timetable determined by US military planners well in advance of UN decisions. A report that US bombing of Iraq as far back as mid-2002 was specifically intended to weaken Saddam's defences may prompt further questions in London.
The New York Times cited what it said was an internal briefing on the conflict by the US air commander, Lieut Gen Michael Moseley, saying a long-standing US and British campaign to enforce no-fly zones in Iraq provided a cover for pre-invasion strikes on Iraqi command systems.
Resentment at the continued US presence and the failure of US forces to restore many basic services and security has been building among Iraqis.
More than 10,000 Shia Muslims demonstrated angrily in Najaf to protest at what they said was US harassment of a radical cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr, who has condemned the governing council set up last week by the Americans as a first step to handing back power to Iraqis.
To satisfy competing claims from Shia and Sunni Arabs, Kurds and others, the council is likely to have a rotating presidency rather than a permanent head, one Iraqi official said. - (Reuters)