IRAQ: Six US soldiers were wounded in Baghdad yesterday, while in the nearby town of Falluja a number of Iraqis were reported killed after an explosion at a mosque.
Mr Paul Bremer, in charge of the US-led authority running Iraq, said professional commandos from Saddam Hussein's old power structure were behind recent attacks on US and British troops, and vowed to crush them and capture Saddam himself.
The United Nations Security Council called on world governments to freeze the assets of the 55 Iraqis on the Pentagon's list of "most-wanted" former government leaders, more than 30 of whom have been caught.
In Baghdad, three soldiers were hurt near the university when a makeshift bomb exploded by their vehicle, a military spokesman said. Their Iraqi interpreter was missing. Bystanders saw troops drag four seemingly badly wounded people from the burning wreck.
Three other soldiers were wounded in two grenade attacks.
In Falluja, a Sunni Muslim stronghold where Americans and Iraqis have clashed before, a US commander denied troops had caused an explosion which locals said killed nine people at a mosque, including the imam, or prayer leader. But thousands of Iraqis chanted angry slogans as they buried the dead: "America is the enemy of God. Avenge the killings."
Mr Bremer dismissed them as the predictable and increasingly desperate reaction of die-hard Saddam loyalists to US success in winning the support of the Iraqi people. "Those few remaining individuals who have refused to fit into the new Iraq are becoming more and more desperate," Mr Bremer said. "They are alienating the rest of the population."
A Reuters reporter at the scene of the central Baghdad attack near al-Mustansiriyah University saw a US vehicle and an Iraqi car on fire shortly after the mid-morning blast.
In Falluja, 50 km west of the capital, in an area dominated by Iraq's Sunni minority, the cause of the powerful late night explosion that damaged the mosque remained a mystery. - (Reuters)
Conor O'Clery adds:
In Washington President Bush said the attacks on US forces in Iraq came from "scattered groups of terrorists, extremists and Saddam loyalists" and linked some of them to al-Qaeda members. Mr Bush vowed to "stay on the offensive" using "direct and decisive force" against the attackers but acknowledged that "the rise of Iraq as as example of moderation and democracy and prosperity is a massive and long-term undertaking".
"The restoration of that country is critical to the defeat of terrorism and radicalism throughout the Middle East," he said. While the looting and random violence that began in the aftermath of war remained a challenge, "a greater challenge has come from some Baath Party security officials who will stop at nothing to regain their power and their prestige."
Also present in Iraq were "terrorist groups seeking to spread chaos and to attack US and coalition forces." These he said included "remnants of a group tied to an al-Qaeda associate".
"They believe they have found an opportunity to harm America to shake our resolve in the war on terrorism and to cause us to leave Iraq before freedom is fully established," Mr Bush said at a swearing-in ceremony for military officers.