US troops attack insurgent stronghold

US forces along the Euphrates River attacked the insurgent stronghold of Haditha early yesterday, capturing a militant with ties to al-Qaida in Iraq and killing four others, the military said.

The assault on Haditha followed a recent offensive to retake Tal Afar which US commanders said netted more than 400 suspected militants. The Iraqi military said its troops had detained 36 others.

In southern Iraq, a roadside bomb exploded near a convoy of Iraqi security guards and foreign contract workers outside Basra, killing four people, police said. While one Iraqi official said the four dead were Americans, US officials were unable to confirm the report. President Jalal Talabani meanwhile, said in Washington that Iraq will not set a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops.

At a news conference with US President George W Bush, Talabani said US forces are still needed in Iraq, despite some calls in the US to start bringing them home.

“We will set no timetable for withdrawal. A timetable will help the terrorists,” Mr Talabani said. He said he hopes Iraqi security forces will be ready to take over responsibility for the country by the end of 2006.

Mr Bush also renewed criticism of Syria, accusing Iraq’s neighbour of not doing enough to control the flow of fighters across the border. He said he would speak with US allies with the aim of getting Damascus to change its behaviour.

“The Syrian leader must understand we take his lack of action seriously,” he said. “The government is going to be more and more isolated.”

Insurgents in Baghdad shelled the heavily fortified Green Zone, with two mortar rounds exploding near a military hospital inside the protected area that houses the Iraqi government, parliament and foreign missions.

On Monday, officials said the insurgent death toll in three days of fighting in Tal Afar totalled 200. Seven Iraqi soldiers and six civilians also died; the US military said no US soldiers were hurt.

Meanwhile, militants made two internet postings in recent days vowing to stage chemical attacks on the Green Zone. The Islamic Army in Iraq, which has previously claimed responsibility for kidnappings and killings of foreigners, made a bounty offer for the assassination of key Iraqi.

The militant group called in a web posting for its “holy fighters to strike the infidels with an iron fist.”

It offered €81,500 to the killer of Mr al-Jaafari, €40,500 for the interior minister and €25,000 for the defence minister.

In other developments: gunmen shot and killed two Sunni clerics in Baqouba; two truck drivers delivering concrete were ambushed and killed in Baghdad; police found the body of a former judge in Baghdad; a bomb planted aboard a minibus exploded in Hilla killing two civilians; in Samarra, US soldiers killed two insurgents who were trying to plant a roadside bomb.