Less US troop deaths in Iraq

The rate of deaths of US forces in Iraq fell to its lowest for more than a year last month with a total of 63.

Figures compiled by Associated Press showed the previous low of 43 came in July last year.

Meanwhile US and Iraqi forces killed more than 60 insurgents in intense battles during the weekend, mostly al-Qaida fighters, officials said.

US aircraft killed more than 20 al-Qaida rebels who opened fire on an American air patrol northwest of Baghdad.

The planes saw about 25 al Qaida insurgents carrying AK-47 assault rifles - one brandishing a rocket-propelled grenade - walking into a palm grove.

Iraq's Defence Ministry said yesterday that Iraqi soldiers had killed 44 "terrorists" during the past 24 hours.

The operations were centred in Salahuddin and Diyala provinces and around the city of Kirkuk, where the ministry said its soldiers had killed 40 and arrested eight. It said 52 fighters were arrested altogether.

In a separate operation, US forces killed two insurgents and held 21 others.

A raid yesterday captured what the US military called 15 rogue members of the Mahdi Army militia in Baghdad.

The mainstream of the militia, the armed wing of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's organisation, has been ordered by the religious leader to stop attacks on US and Iraqi forces.

But many former members have are acting independently. Some have gone to Iran for training and are receiving weapons and financing from Tehran.