US soldier dies in Iraq

A US soldier was killed and five others were wounded when an army foot patrol was ambushed just outside Fallujah in Iraq today.

Two Iraqi civilians were also killed.

The patrol, from the 82nd Airborne Division, was first hit by an exploding homemade bomb, and then by small-arms fire.

The paratroopers raided a nearby mosque in apparent search for the attackers, and detained three Iraqis.

The bodies of two civilians were taken to Fallujah General Hospital, where doctors said one was a Syrian truckdriver who was hauling cement from Lebanon to Baghdad when he was caught in the attack.

Two civilian trucks were damaged in the action, one left dangling over a bridge at the scene, apparently from what witnesses said was a rocket-propelled grenade strike.

The attack was staged about 20 yards from the main bridge leading into Fallujah from Baghdad, when about 30 soldiers on foot, accompanied by five Humvees, were on patrol along the highway.

Iraq’s interim leader called for an immediate mobilisation of the old Iraqi army to help the harried Americans.

The US would “speed the process of relieving the burden on its troops” by recalling the disbanded Iraqi military, said Iyad Allawi, current president of the Iraqi Governing Council.

The idea was rejected by Baghdad’s US-led occupation authorities.

Attackers killed two US soldiers and wounded a third in a clash outside the northern city of Kirkuk late Saturday.

The deaths in Kirkuk and Fallujah brought to 104 the number of Americans killed by hostile fire since President George Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1.