BAGHDAD: A US soldier was killed in central Baghdad by a rocket-propelled grenade yesterday, while an Iraqi police chief was shot to death by gunmen west of Baghdad in the latest round of violence to beset US troops and their allies in Iraq.
The incidents came as Mr Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, visited the Kurdish city of Halabja, site of a 1988 massacre by Saddam Hussein's forces using chemical weapons. He said "the world should have acted sooner" to remove the dictator.
Dedicating a memorial to the victims of the attack, estimated at 5,000, he told Kurds: "What I can tell you is that what happened here in 1988 is never going to happen again."
Mr Powell is the second top US official to visit Iraq following a visit last week by Mr Donald Rumsfeld, the Defence Secretary.
Mounting casualties are a big concern of the US administration, but Mr Powell made it clear that US forces would stay throughout the complicated Iraqi political transition period.
Yesterday's attack in Baghdad put the number of US soldiers killed in combat since the war was declared over at 73.
The Iraqi police chief was killed by gunmen as he drove from his headquarters in Khaldiya to the town of Falluja, scene of mounting troubles where US soldiers mistakenly killed eight Iraqi policemen on Friday. There was no word on suspects in the killing.
Falluja and nearby Ramadi have been the focus for much of the violence in the post-war guerrilla campaign. US forces have tried virtually everything in order to bring peace to the area. Slowly the violence appears to be spreading to Baghdad, which has become the site for an increasing number of deadly attacks over the summer.
A senior rebel commander was among 15 Taliban fighters killed in overnight clashes with US-led forces and government troops, Afghan officials said yesterday. The US military confirmed the toll, saying US and allied warplanes had backed Afghan and US-led ground forces hunting remnants of the ousted Taliban and al-Qaeda network.