4 US soldiers killed in Iraqi guerilla attacks

Four US soldiers were killed in a flare-up of guerilla attacks in Iraq that continued for a second day yesterday, marring the US-led administration's claim that post-war reconstruction is steaming ahead.

Eleven soldiers were also wounded in the four incidents.

A soldier was killed early yesterday and seven others wounded when they came under attack in the flashpoint town of Fallujah from a "hostile force of unknown size."

US Central Command said the army unit responded "decisively with concentrated fire," killing two of the attackers and capturing six others.

Initial reports are that the attackers fired from a mosque in the city, Centcom said.

On Monday before sundown, an attack targeted the main highway between the massive US military camp at Baghdad airport and the occupation headquarters in the city centre.

An explosion destroyed the lead armoured car in a three-vehicle convoy and shook surrounding homes.

US commanders told an AFP correspondent on the scene that an unknown attacker had thrown a bag packed with an explosive device.

The "satchel charged munition" had detonated the rounds inside the armoured vehicle, which was "turned into ash," said Lieutenant Colonel Scott Rutter of the 3rd Infantry Division.

The three soldiers in the lead vehicle were wounded, along with a fourth who went to the rescue and was wounded by the secondary blast, Rutter said Monday night. One of the soldiers later died.

"The second vehicle engaged the individual but the individual got away. He was shot and wounded and ran away across the highway," Rutter added.

Six or seven black-clad Saddam Fedayeen guerrillas, two brandishing large portraits of the ousted strongman, were seen celebrating their spectacular daylight attack on the US military convoy, witnesses told AFP yesterday.

"They were waving their Kalashnikovs and Saddam pictures in the air," one witness said, adding that there were tunnel networks on either side of the road that had been formerly used by Iraqi security services.

Rutter put a brave face on the raid, which coincided with Memorial Day, when the United States honours its war dead, and undercut coalition claims that it was getting a hold on security in the capital nearly seven weeks after Saddam's overthrow.

"Order in Baghdad is present. Any time you have a large group of civilians there's going to be some bad guys.

"I have seen it getting better and better every day. There has been a drastic improvement in the last 30 days."

In the second attack on Monday, one soldier was killed and another injured when their convoy was ambushed in the former Iraqi strongman's Sunni Muslim tribal heartland close to the Syrian border.

"An unknown number of attackers fired small arms, rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns at the convoy" near Hadithah, some 190 kilometers northwest of Baghdad, US Central Command said.

The attacks overshadowed an announcement by the head of the US-led administration, Paul Bremer, that he was establishing a large credit facility for exports to Iraq to promote trade as the rebuilding of the war-torn country entered a new phase after the lifting of UN sanctions last week.

Bremer gave no figure for the amount of money on the table but said it would come from a raft of private banks as well as the Central Bank of Iraq.

"It will be a substantial credit facility that first symbolically indicates to the world that Iraq is open for business and also provides a practical incentive to people who want to trade with Iraq," he told a Baghdad news conference.

Bremer insisted post-war reconstruction was "now nearing the end of the first stage," with government ministries, most power and water supplies, and a new police force up and running.

"The task now is to help the Iraqis rebuild their economy after decades of state control and mismanagement."

The career diplomat has launched a host of measures in a frenetic first fortnight in office as he tries to win the confidence of Iraqis frustrated by the speed of rebuilding and angered by the lack of security in Baghdad.

Beefed-up street patrols in the capital, tough new measures on weapons possession and a boost in rubbish collection and other services have raised the coalition's profile.

Bremer has also launched a massive clampdown on Saddam's Baath party in a bid to reassure Iraqis his brutal rule is gone for good.

On Monday, he established a new Iraqi body to advise him on the eradication of senior party members from public life and the confiscation of party assets.