Baghdad.

Attackers firing guns and rocket-propelled grenades killed a US soldier in Baghdad yesterday as Washington considered asking the UN to help restore order in Iraq and contain a guerrilla insurgency. A US spokesman said the soldier was attacked in the early hours as he guarded a bank in western Baghdad. He was the second soldier killed in Iraq in 24 hours.

The spokesman said four soldiers had also been wounded in the Rashid district of Baghdad yesterday morning, when a home-made bomb was detonated near their patrol. In another expression of Iraqi anger, more than 10,000 Shi'ite Muslim protesters marched through the capital to demand an end to alleged US harassment of Shi'ite leader Moqtada al-Sadr. Facing daily attacks, Washington may turn to the United Nations to try to persuade countries to send soldiers or share costs, running at around $4 billion a month, diplomats said.

The State Department said Washington was open to giving the UN a bigger role in Iraq, especially if other governments respond by offering more to peace-keeping and reconstruction.

In his first major report on postwar Iraq, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said Iraqis did not want democracy imposed by outsiders and rated lawlessness as their main concern. Annan, also envisioned an ambitious UN role in Iraq. Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, commander of the US ground forces in Iraq, told a news conference that the wave of attacks would not weaken Washington's resolve.