IRAQ: A British man was among two people killed yesterday when gunmen ambushed their vehicle in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.
The two men, who worked as security guards for an American reconstruction company, were shot while on their way to a power station in the east of the city.
Witnesses saw two partly burned bodies, clad in blue clothing and flak jackets, beside a four-wheel drive vehicle which had gone on fire after the attack.
Three other men travelling in a second vehicle - also reported to be British - reached the power station after the shooting.
The second man who died was a Canadian, a spokesman for the United States military said.
In another attack in the city, insurgents fired two rocket-propelled grenades at a US Stryker military vehicle on patrol in a western district, setting it on fire, witnesses said.
The ambush follows a rash of drive-by shootings targeting Westerners in the country as terrorists go after increasingly "soft" targets in the run-up to this summer's transfer of power.
Last week 29-year-old British civilian Scott Mounce died in a car bomb attack on the five-storey Mount Lebanon Hotel in Baghdad.
At least six other people were killed and 35 injured in the bombing.
Earlier this month in Mosul, four US missionaries were shot dead when assailants ambushed their vehicle.
Earlier terrorist attacks had focused on the US military presence and Iraqi security forces.
Few Westerners now dare to travel on the roads of Iraq without an armed escort.
Houses are surrounded by concrete crash barriers and barbed wire, and travel after dark is considered dangerous.
Concerns over security have led to the creation of a multi-million dollar security industry to protect those involved in lucrative reconstruction work in Iraq.
There are hundreds of Britons working as security guards and "consultants" in Iraq.
Many of the firms are staffed by former SAS and army recruits.
Yesterday, US administrator Mr Paul Bremer handed over the health ministry to Iraqi supervision, the first step to a political changeover.