Ten US troops killed as Spain begins withdrawal

TEN US soldiers and as many as 30 insurgents were killed in fierce clashes around Iraq over the weekend as Spain vowed to pull its troops out of the coalition "as soon as possible".

Five marines died in an ambush on the Syrian border, triggering a battle with hundreds of guerrillas and pushing the number of US soldiers killed in combat this month to 99.

At least 25 Iraqis were killed in the fighting that followed Saturday's ambush in Husaybah, 240 miles west of Baghdad, the military said. The city's police chief was among the dead, a hospital official said.

Across Iraq, Saturday was one of the bloodiest days for US troops since the latest uprising began April 4. Five US troops were killed in guerrilla attacks elsewhere in the country and a sixth died in a tank rollover.

Three soldiers were killed when their 1st Armoured Division convoy was ambushed near the southern Iraqi city of Diwaniyah.

Another died when a roadside bomb exploded near a military convoy in Baghdad, and a marine was killed in action in western Iraq, separate from the Syrian border fighting.

Along with the fighting at the border, the deaths brought to 99 the number of US troops in violence killed since April 1. With the death of a soldier in a tank rollover in Baghdad on Saturday, at least 697 US service members have died in Iraq since the war began in March, 2003.

Rockets aimed at a military camp in western Baghdad hit a nearby civilian area, killing two Iraqi civilians and wounding four others, as well as wounding two US civilian contractors and one soldier.

The fighting in Husaybah began when insurgents ambushed marines on Saturday. Fighting continued yesterday in three neighbourhoods of the city, which was sealed off by US forces.

Five marines were killed said Lt Eric Knapp. He also said some marines were wounded, but did not give a number. He reported 25-30 insurgents killed.

According to marine intelligence, nearly 300 Iraqi mujahedeen fighters from the Fallujah and Ramadi areas, 150 miles to the east, launched the offensive in an outpost next to Husaybah.

Marines have been battling Sunni insurgents in a siege of Fallujah, 35 miles west of the capital, and guerrilla activity has surged in nearby Ramadi, where 12 marines were killed in an ambush on April 6.

Meanwhile, Spain will withdraw its troops from Iraq "as soon as possible", Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said yesterday.

"The Spanish troops in Iraq will be withdrawn as soon as possible with maximum security," Mr Zapatero said, a day after he formally took office following the March 14 win of his Socialist Party.

Immediately after his election, Mr Zapatero had vowed to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq unless they come under UN command by June 30 when their mandate expires.

His conservative predecessor, Jose Maria Aznar, sent in 1,300 troops in August, 2003 in a move which led to huge popular protests across Spain.