Spain, a key US political ally in the war which ousted Saddam Hussein in April, said today it was recalling some civilian staff from Iraq for consultation.
Spain's Prime Minister Mr Jose Maria Aznar said those being recalled included some embassy staff as well as Spaniards working with the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority running Iraq.
Spain did not say if the move was directly linked to violence and the attacks on US and foreign interests which have forced most foreign aid workers to leave the country.
But when asked why the staff was being recalled, Spanish embassy first secretary Mr Pablo Ruperez said in Baghdad: "I think it comes after things like the Red Cross bombing".
Suicide bombers struck four times in Baghdad on October 27th, killing 35 people and wounding 230 in attacks aimed at the Red Cross offices and three police stations.
Meanwhile, a bomb killed a US soldier in Baghdad today.
The US Army said the soldier was killed and two soldiers were wounded when their vehicle ran over a bomb planted on the road, the latest in a string of attacks on US-led forces occupying Iraq.
In the northern city of Mosul, five rocket-propelled grenades were fired at a hotel used as a US military compound but no one was hurt. Also in Mosul, gunmen killed a second Iraqi judge in two days, police said. The first was in southern Iraq.