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Another US soldier killed in Iraq
28/06/2003 15:23 - (SA)
Baghdad - Another US soldier was shot dead in Baghdad and four of his comrades wounded as Secretary of State Colin Powell called on Americans to be patient in the face of mounting US casualties in Iraq.
The latest death, in a Friday night attack on a convoy, brings the total of US soldiers killed as a result of hostile fire since the May 1 end of the war to 21, with a further 40 having died in other incidents.
In the flashpoint town of Fallujah, two anti-tank rockets destroyed a US armoured vehicle overnight, witnesses said.
Ambulances had taken away the wounded, the witnesses added but could not say if American troops were among them.
The rising death toll prompted Powell to urge Americans back home to show understanding, and not to increase calls to bring the troops out of Iraq.
"I would say to the American people that we always recognised this would be a dangerous operation," Powell said in a radio interview.
"And even though major combat action is over... we always expected there would be this residual problem of Fedayeen, of the Baath party members, of old Saddam cronies and others who are coming in to make mischief, and they would have to be dealt with," Powell said.
"I hope the American people will demonstrate the patience and the understanding of the situation," he added.
Powell said he hoped the mounting casualty toll would not increase pressure to withdraw US troops from Iraq.
"I hope it does not. I hope it increases the pressure on us to get the security situation under control more quickly," he said.
"We're not going to be pushed out," he insisted, saying it would take "months" for the US to get on top of the situation.
In a further sign of the nervousness of the US administration facing guerrilla-style warfare, the Pentagon said a group of independent US policy experts was due in Baghdad to assess the postwar state of the country.
The five-member group will report to Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and chief US administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, a Pentagon spokesperson said.
Despite a week of attacks in which nine British and US troops have been killed in hostile incidents, the leader of a key Iraqi Shiite movement said he opposed violence against the interim coalition administration.
The latest spate of violence in Iraq raised concerns about the timetable for resuming Iraqi oil shipments, pushing world oil prices higher.
On Friday, New York's benchmark light sweet crude July contract rose US26c to US$29.27 in late deals.
- AFX
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