Bush under fire as deaths mount

A US soldier, an eight-year-old Iraqi child, and a pro-American mayor and his son were killed yesterday as pro-Saddam Hussein insurgents unleashed a string of violent attacks on the eve of a recently banned Ba'ath Party holiday.

Also yesterday, Suspected Saddam Hussein followers fired a surface-to-air missile at a US Hercules military transport plane as it was landing at Baghdad International Airport.

The missile missed its target but it was another example of the ever increasing violence against Americans in Iraq.