Three US soldiers were killed yesterday in deposed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's heartland of Tikrit.
A US military spokesman said three soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division were killed and two wounded in small arms fire five miles south of the ousted Iraqi leader's hometown of Tikrit, west of Baghdad, at a suspected weapons site.
The attack came hours after US President George W. Bush said he did not expect a quick UN resolution on US pleas for foreign help in Iraq.
Two other US soldiers were wounded earlier in the day in an attack on their convoy in the same general area, a hotbed of anti-Americanism.
The deaths brought to 76 the number of US soldiers killed in action in Iraq - seven in the past week - since Mr Bush declared major action over on May 1st.
At the United Nations, diplomats said Secretary-General Mr Kofi Annan was demanding that the world body should have a clear and independent mandate in Iraq before large numbers of political staff return to the country. Washington has been resisting giving up its leading role in Iraq.
Two of the strongest opponents of the war, France and Germany, expressed fears of a worsening security situation in Iraq and called for a handover of political power to Iraqis.