- TIKRIT, Iraq (Reuters) -
Guerrillas killed three U.S. soldiers and two Iraqi officials on Saturday,
taking the death toll of U.S. soldiers in Iraq to 500 since the war to
oust Saddam Hussein began last March.
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- The mounting toll is a problem for President Bush in
the months before he seeks re-election in November but Washington insisted
it would hand over power in Iraq by mid-2004.
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- The roadside bomb north of Baghdad appeared to be one
of the most powerful used against U.S. occupation forces to date -- killing
the five inside a Bradley armored vehicle, which resembles a small tank.
Previous attacks on U.S. convoys have tended to cause casualties aboard
lighter vehicles such as trucks.
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- After meeting Bush for talks on Friday, the U.S. governor
of Iraq, Paul Bremer, said Washington was willing to adjust plans for handing
over power to appease Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric, but was unlikely to meet
his key demand for elections this year.
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- Bremer also stressed the June 30 deadline for transferring
power to an Iraqi government would not be extended. Coalition troops are,
however, scheduled to stay under bilateral agreements with the new government.
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- He will meet U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Monday
and is expected to press him to send a U.N. team to Iraq to convince Shi'ites
that direct elections are not feasible or suggest a workable compromise.
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- In the latest attack, the roadside bomb near the town
of Taji, 30 km (19 miles) north of Baghdad, set the Bradley on fire, killing
five inside, said Lieutenant Colonel William Macdonald of the U.S. Army's
4th Infantry Division.
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- Three U.S. soldiers and two Iraqi civil defense officials
were killed and two U.S. soldiers were injured, he said. Troops arrested
three Iraqi men in a sweep of the area shortly after when a truck they
were traveling in was found to contain bomb-making material.
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- Taji was at the heart of Iraq's military-industrial complex
during Saddam's rule and lies in an area coalition forces call the "Sunni
triangle" -- dominated by members of Saddam's Sunni community where
opposition to the U.S. troops has been fiercest.
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- The U.S. military also said on Saturday an American soldier
died from a "non-hostile gunshot wound" on Friday.
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- Confirmation of the four American deaths brought the
death toll to 500 since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq began on March 20
last year.
- © Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved.
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