15,000 troops mobilised as US seizes Iraq weapons cache

THE Pentagon mobilised 15,000 fresh troops for duty in Iraq as the US military announced yesterday it had found large caches of weapons, including missiles, near Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit.

Meanwhile, two US soldiers were wounded yesterday in a bomb attack on their convoy south of Baghdad, a military spokesman said.

Sergeant Mark Ingham said the attack with an "improvised explosive device" occurred in the town of Iskandariya, 45 kilometres away from the capital.