Coalition will not be broken by attacks - US

US officials tonight vowed that the international coalition will not be broken by roadside ambushes that increasingly targeted US allies.

The pledge came as rebels killed two South Korean electricians, a day after a Colombian contractor, two Japanese diplomats and seven Spanish intelligence officers were murdered.

US commanders said the attacks indicate that insurgents are trying to undermine the coalition trying to rebuild Iraq after the US-led war ousted Saddam Hussein, but vowed the international force would not be intimidated.

“They clearly are targeting coalition members in an effort to intimidate all allies in Iraq and discourage their participation in the reconstruction of Iraq,” said coalition spokesman Dan Senor. “The enemies of freedom ... are trying to break the coalition’s will.”

Spanish and Japanese officials said the deaths wouldn’t change their commitments to the coalition.

“They intend to stay the course,” Senor said. “Their will is stiffened and the reconstruction goes on.”

Attacks against US forces, while fewer in recent days, continued their bloody toll as well. Two US soldiers were killed and a third was wounded on Saturday when they came under rocket-propelled grenade and automatic fire near the Syrian border in Husaybah, 200 miles northwest of Baghdad, the military said today.

Their deaths brought to 104 the number of coalition troops who have died in Iraq in November, including 79 American troops. In terms of coalition losses, it has been the bloodiest month of the war that began March 20.

Also today, the US military for the first time acknowledged that the single deadliest incident of the war – the collision of two Black Hawk helicopters in Mosul on Nov. 15 – may have been caused by enemy action. The military had not previously speculated publicly on the cause of the collision in which 17 soldiers died.

“It appears to be that one helicopter was hit” by a rocket-propelled grenade, said Colonel Joe. Anderson, commander of the 2nd Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division. “It appears that there was some form of ground fire, probably an RPG that hit one which caused one to collide.”

The South Koreans – electricians for the Seoul-based Ohmoo Electric Co. laying power lines near the northern city of Tikrit – were shot today while riding in a civilian car near Tikrit, said Lee Kwang-jae, director general of South Korea’s Foreign Ministry.

Two other South Koreans were wounded in the attack, Lee said.

Sgt. Robert Cargie, spokesman for the US Army’s 4th Infantry Division, said an attack on a convoy near Samarra this afternoon left three people dead. It was not clear whether he was referring to the incident involving the South Koreans, and if so, who the third victim was.

US officials said that a Colombian civilian working as a military contractor was killed on Saturday morning in a roadside ambush in Balad, 45 miles north of Baghdad on the highway to Tikrit.

US Army Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt said insurgents opened fire with small arms on the convoy, killing the man who worked for the US defence contractor Kellogg, Brown and Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton Co., which was formerly headed by US Vice President Dick Cheney.

KBR said in a statement that an employee working to restore Iraq’s oil infrastructure died of a bullet wound when his five-vehicle convoy came under attack near Kirkuk, 100 miles north of Balad. Another employee and a subcontractor were injured, it said.

On Saturday, gunmen in a car – apparently in coordination with others waiting by the side of the highway – ambushed a convoy of Spanish military intelligence agents, killing seven. One Spaniard escaped from the attack as young men kicked the bodies and chanted pro-Saddam slogans.

Two Japanese diplomats also were also killed Saturday north of Baghdad when they stopped to buy food and drinks at a roadside stand, Lt. Col. William MacDonald said. The diplomats, on their way to attend a reconstruction conference, were not travelling with a military escort. Their Iraqi driver was also reported killed.

In Tokyo, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said Japanese troops would still go as scheduled to Iraq to aid in reconstruction efforts. Spain also said the attack wouldn’t cause it to pull out its 1,300 soldiers from Iraq.