Iraq: Two US soldiers were killed and nine wounded in an ambush yesterday in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, a stronghold of Saddam Hussein supporters.
Two of the attackers were also killed when US troops returned fire on an unknown number of guerrillas who attacked with rocket-propelled grenades (RPG) and small arms, US Central Command said.
Witnesses said that RPG fire also brought down a US helicopter, while US Central Command (Centcom) said the helicopter was struck by an armoured vehicle as it was trying to get into firing position.
Centcom said initial reports indicated that the guerrillas fired on US troops overnight from a nearby mosque and said, if confirmed, it would be "a violation of the law of war".
Tension in Fallujah has been on the boil since last month, when US troops shot dead at least 16 anti-US protesters in the city, 50 kilometers west of Baghdad.
Yesterday's incident was the third deadly attack on US occupying forces in Iraq in just 24 hours, as Iraqi resistance appears to be tightening seven weeks after Saddam Hussein was ousted from power.
The US-led coalition insists that security is improving in the country and the number of patrols has been boosted in Baghdad in the past few days.
Mr Kassim Abdullah, a night guard at Fallujah general hospital, said a US helicopter trying to rescue the wounded was brought down by RPG fire and landed on top of a US tank or armoured fighting vehicle.
The report could not be confirmed.
US Central Command said that after the attack, the army unit responded "decisively with concentrated fire".
Other witnesses said that the bodies of the dead attackers were left in the street for several hours after US troops blocked off the main roads until the morning, when local residents came to collect them.
The Pentagon-backed Iraqi National Congress (INC), a former opposition group now playing a lead role under US aegis in planning for a new Iraqi government, said the attacks were the work of diehard members of Saddam's Baath party.
On Monday, Saddam loyalists hurled a bag with explosives in front of a US convoy on the main highway to Baghdad airport. One soldier was killed and three were injured.
Another RPG and machine-gun attack on a US convoy near the town of Hadithah on Monday, about 190 kilometers northwest of Baghdad, killed one soldier and wounded another.
Meanwhile, the new UN special representative for Iraq pledged to be in Baghdad by next Monday and said the most urgent priority was to establish law and order.
"To build what we want to build - democratic institutions and a real culture of human rights and a political process making it possible for the Iraqis to govern themselves as soon as possible - is impossible without security," Mr Sergio Vieira de Mello said at UN headquarters.
The United States and Britain have been widely criticized for failing to quickly stem looting and restore security after ousting Saddam Hussein's government.
Separately, UN officials said the administrator of the UN development program, Mr Mark Malloch Brown, would meet officials of governments interested in participating in Iraqi reconstruction on June 24th.
Meanwhile UN secretary-general Kofi Annan has defended naming Mr de Mello as his special envoy for Iraq. He was given only a four-month appointment so he would not have to give up his current job as High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Mr Annan said it was a difficult decision "particularly as human rights has been at the top of my own agenda" but said he needed someone who could "hit the ground running".
- (AFP/Reuters)