Iraqi fighters tried to shoot down a US transport plane with a surface-to-air missile, gunned down the mayor of an Iraqi city and killed an American soldier in a convoy, in a marked escalation of violence.

ROCKET-propelled grenades slammed into US military vehicles in two attacks yesterday in and around Baghdad after an explosion at a mosque in the town of Fallujah killed 10 Iraqis and injured four others.

An American soldier was killed today and another was wounded when their convoy was ambushed in northern Iraq.