Gunmen hit US troops as insurgency spreads

GUNMEN ambushed American soldiers on patrol with a roadside bomb then opened fire on them in Mosul yesterday, wounding one, as fears grew that the anti-coalition insurgency was spreading north a day after two American soldiers were killed here and their bodies mauled.

In the capital Baghdad, the Iraqi Governing Council pledged renewed efforts to fight "terrorism" and warned Middle Eastern broadcasters to avoid reports that incite violence.

Near the northern city of Kirkuk, an oil pipeline was on fire yesterday. Adel al-Qazzaz, manager of the Northern Oil Company, said he believed the cause was sabotage. Insurgents have repeatedly targeted pipelines, and sabotage of oil infrastructure has become a major problem for the US-run coalition.