Two Iraqi troops killed in Baghdad blast

A roadside bomb exploded today along a highway leading to Baghdad’s airport, killing two Iraqi troops and wounding 11 others – four critically – as Iraq’s interim prime minister reorganised the country’s security forces to combat terrorism.

Elsewhere, oil flowed to a southern port after crews completed key repairs on a pipeline sabotaged last week by insurgents, an official of the state-run Southern Oil Company said. It was unclear whether exports had yet resumed.

US soldiers accompanying the Iraqis on the airport road said the attackers waited for the Americans to pass and then set off the blast as Iraqi forces drove by. Insurgents have hammered Iraqi police and civil defence troops to undermine confidence in the interim government before the June 30 handover of power.

The bomb went off on a road near Baghdad International Airport, said Lt. Col. Tim Ryan, commander of the 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment.

American troops took the Iraqi wounded to a US aid station for treatment. As they waited for news on the wounded, Iraqi soldiers wept and US comrades hugged them.

“The hardcore terrorists don’t care who they kill,” Ryan said. “These guys are bigger targets than we are now.”

Elsewhere, the US military said an American Marine was killed in action Saturday in Anbar province, which includes Ramadi and Fallujah. A mortar round also injured six police officers and four Iraqis in a separate attack near the Iraqi central bank in the heart of Baghdad.

Faced with the mounting violence, interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi appealed for international help for his beleaguered forces and said that the government was considering “emergency law” in certain, unspecified regions to bring the situation under control.

However, the Iraqis need better equipment and support to fight back, Allawi said as he appealed for assistance until Iraqi forces “are fully capable.”

“We will continue to need support from our friends,” Allawi told reporters in Baghdad.

As part of the restructuring, Allawi announced creation of a ministerial-level committee for national security including among others the ministers of defence, interior, foreign, justice, and finance. He also announced establishment of a Centre for Joint Operations “to control all activities related to national security.”

Elsewhere, US forces clashed with insurgents north of Baghdad in a battle that killed 10 Iraqis and wounded 12 others, police and hospital officials said.

There was no comment from the US military, but Iraqi officials said the clashes occurred in Samarra, about 60 miles north of the capital in the so-called Sunni Triangle, a hotbed of anti-coalition resistance.

Oil began flowing toward the Iraqi terminal in the Gulf after crews completed key repairs on a pipeline sabotaged last week by insurgents, a state run-oil company official said.