Bush vows no retreat from Iraq despite mounting toll

Faced with a mounting military and civilian death toll and stiffening guerilla resistance, President George W. Bush vowed yesterday that the United States would not run from its "vital" mission in Iraq.

Within hours of Bush's pledge in a speech in Alabama, a large explosion echoed across Baghdad, followed by mortar fire near the headquarters of the US-led administration in Iraq. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

The president's comments were his first since 16 American soldiers were killed when guerillas shot down their CH-47 Chinook helicopter on Sunday in the worst single attack since the American invasion on March 20.

"The enemy in Iraq believes America will run. That's why they're willing to kill innocent civilians, relief workers, coalition troops. America will never run," Bush said, despite falling approval ratings in the United States over the war.

"The mission in Iraq is vital," Bush added. But he did not refer to the downing of the helicopter or three other deaths which made Sunday the second worst day overall for the Americans of the conflict. At least 20 US soldiers were wounded.

Since the invasion, at least 250 US soldiers have been killed by hostile fire. The number of Iraqis killed since March is in the thousands and steadily climbing.

In Baghdad, a loud blast echoed across the city followed by mortar fire from the west bank of the Tigris river where the US-led administration occupies a large palace complex previously used by ousted President Saddam Hussein.

In Washington, a defence official said three to four mortar bombs exploded in the vicinity of the newly reopened 14th of July Bridge over the Tigris and a damage assessment was being made. The official said the blasts did not affect the Coalition Provisional Authority headquarters.

At least three people were killed when a bomb exploded yesterday outside a hotel used by Iranian pilgrims in the holy Shi'ite city of Kerbala, 90 km south of Baghdad, Shi'ite officials said.

They said the bomb appeared to have been planted in a nearby car and had destroyed much of the front of the hotel.

Guerilla resistance is stiffening, in contrast to the crushing of Iraq's regular army seven months ago - a rout partly caused by Saddam's delusion the invasion was only a feint, his former deputy prime minister was quoted as saying.

As US troops and Humvees guarded the helicopter wreckage yesterday near the flashpoint town of Falluja, west of the capital, gleeful villagers from old men to children celebrated the attack.

They called it the perfect present to mark the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The "Sunni triangle" region, where the helicopter was downed, is a hotbed of anti-US anger.

"We usually celebrate Ramadan at the end of the month. Now we are celebrating in the beginning after these infidel Americans were shot down," said taxi driver Abdullah Hissein.

More US helicopters clattered overhead. "Now we want to take them down as well," the driver said.

Earlier, 18 of the wounded soldiers arrived at the US Ramstein Air Base in Germany. The military said some would be treated at the nearby Landstuhl Hospital.

The triumphal postwar glow in which Bush taunted Iraqi militants with the challenge "bring them on" has faded to a grim determination against an ever more lethal resistance which has forced most foreign aid workers to leave.

On Sunday night near Balad, north of Baghdad, US forces fired on a pickup truck, killing six Iraqis, residents said. US soldiers said the vehicle was suspected of carrying insurgents and that the incident was being investigated.

Locals said the group had been returning from prayers.

The US-led administration said in a statement that Mustafa Zaidan al-Khaleefa, head of Baghdad's Karkh Neighbourhood Council, was killed on Sunday evening while walking near his home. Two gunmen shot him as they drove by, it said.