Iraq: Forces loyal to Saddam Hussein based in towns around Baghdad fired rocket-propelled grenades at two US convoys yesterday in the latest in a series of ambushes.
US Central Command said it had launched a new mission to hunt for pro-Saddam fighters who have mounted several deadly attacks in towns and villages to the north and west of the Iraqi capital over recent days.Angry locals say US raids are stoking hostility towards the Americans and fuelling demands across Iraq for occupying forces to leave.
On Sunday, hundreds of people marched through Basra to demand that the British troops running the city hand over power to an Iraqi local government.
Meanwhile, a BBC poll which surveyed more than 11,000 people in 11 countries showed 57 per cent of those asked had "a very unfavourable or fairly unfavourable attitude towards the American president".
Some 56 per cent felt the United States was wrong to attack Iraq, including 81 per cent of Russian respondents and 63 per cent of those polled in France. In five of the 11 countries polled, a majority of respondents believed the United States was more dangerous than Iran, named by President Bush as part of an "axis of evil" with Iraq and North Korea. And in eight of the 11, respondents said the US was more dangerous than Syria, a country which Washington accuses of sponsoring terrorism.
Around 40 US soldiers have been killed in attacks and ambushes since the start of May, mostly in Baghdad and two nearby areas - to the west around Ramadi and Falluja, and to the north around Balad Baquba and Tikrit, Saddam"s home town. - (Reuters)