The US Defence Department is removing the Army Corps of Engineers from overseeing oil imports into Iraq, just weeks after Pentagon auditors said Halliburton – Vice President Dick Cheney’s former firm – may have overcharged taxpayers under the corps’ supervision.

US Vice President Dick Cheney’s former company may have overcharged the US Army by as much as €55.7m for petrol in Iraq, Pentagon auditors have found.

US officials tonight vowed that the international coalition will not be broken by roadside ambushes that increasingly targeted US allies.

An oil pipeline near the northern city of Kirkuk was on fire today and local officials said the blaze may have been caused by sabotage. In Mosul, US troops opened fire after an explosion near a military convoy, witnesses said.

TWO American soldiers were shot dead while waiting in traffic in Mosul yesterday, a day after suicide bombers killed up to 20 people in attacks on two police stations northeast of Baghdad.

Gunmen killed two American soldiers today while they were driving through the northern Iraqi city of Mosul and a crowd swarmed over the scene, looting the vehicle and pummelling the bodies, witnesses said.