US troops kill 26 in rebel ambush

Dozens of militants firing automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades ambushed a US supply convoy, drawing return fire that left 26 insurgents dead - the highest, single-incident rebel death toll reported in four months.

Between 40 to 50 guerillas opened fire on military police and artillery units from the Kentucky National Guard on Sunday night as the Americans travelled along a road 20 miles south-east of Baghdad.

The higher death toll was attributed to the unusually large number of attackers, who usually travel in smaller bands or employ hidden explosives. US military officials said it was the highest number of insurgents killed in a clash since the November assault on the former rebel-held city of Fallujah.

Six soldiers and seven militants were also wounded in the attack, and one person was arrested.

The route has seen an increase in violence, with another US convoy attacked last Friday in nearly the same spot.

“This road has had increased attacks on coalition forces,” the US military said.

After the attack, troops recovered six rocket-propelled grenade launchers, 16 rockets, 13 machine guns, 22 assault weapons, more than 2,900 rounds of ammunition, and 40 hand grenades from the insurgents. The fight is among the heaviest reported since Iraq’s Jan. 30 elections.

Attacks across the country today left seven civilians and three Iraqi soldiers dead.

The violence came as Iraq and neighbouring Jordan engaged in a diplomatic spat, with a tit-for-tat withdrawal of high-level representatives in a growing dispute over Shiite Muslim claims that Jordan is failing to block terrorists from entering Iraq.

The diplomatic row erupted even as a Jordanian court sentenced in absentia Iraq’s most feared terrorist – a Jordan native – to a 15 year prison term.

As news emerged of the largely symbolic sentencing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, whose whereabouts are unknown, his al-Qaida in Iraq organisation claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that killed a top anti-corruption official in the northern city of Mosul. Al-Zarqawi already has been sentenced to death twice by Jordan.