US troops wounded in Iraq

A grenade attack wounded seven US soldiers in Iraq yesterday even as President George W. Bush prepared to announce an end to combat and his envoys sought to reap diplomatic gains from the war.

Iraqis in Falluja, a Sunni Muslim city west of Baghdad, attacked a US base in apparent anger at the killing of 15 residents by US troops who fired at angry crowds twice this week, the military said.

"The attack was an expression of the anger of a few people in the city after what happened," US Captain Alan Vaught said. The US Central Command said that of seven soldiers wounded, five required medical attention and were in a stable condition.

The attack underscored the turbulence facing Bush as he aimed to turn the world's attention from war to reconstruction during a speech that was scheduled for 0100 GMT last night aboard a US aircraft carrier nearly home from the Iraq war, now six weeks old.

While Bush readied his speech, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had talks in Kuwait on reducing the US military presence in the region and Secretary of State Colin Powell began a European and Middle East diplomatic mission in Spain.

"Americans prayed that war would not be necessary and now pray that peace will be just and lasting," Bush said yesterday at White House ceremonies for the annual National Day of Prayer.

In his speech aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, Bush was expected to stop short of formally declaring victory, but to set the stage for US-led efforts to rebuild Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Bush's commander in the Iraq conflict, General Tommy Franks, told him on Tuesday that major combat operations were over.

Communications Director Dan Bartlett told CNN. "We are still searching for and will find the weapons of mass destruction that Saddam Hussein hid."

Iraqis, who toppled statues of the ousted Saddam, have largely shown gratitude to the Americans for bringing Saddam down but also have made clear they want US troops to leave the country as soon as possible.

Pro-American Iraqi politician Ahmad Chalabi, back from decades in exile, said growing frustration about the disruption to basic services in Iraq could prompt new bouts of violence.

Chalabi, who heads the Iraqi National Congress, told Reuters an Iraqi force should be set up to patrol towns and cities so as to prevent a repeat of Falluja-like clashes with US troops.

In central Baghdad, at least three people were killed and more than 18 were badly burned when Iraqis, celebrating the resumption of electricity, shot up a petrol tanker sending waves of fire through a petrol station.

In Washington, the US-based group that won a multimillion dollar contract to revitalise the Iraqi education system said it had set an initial goal of getting every Iraqi child back in school by October 1.

Powell began a three-day trip to Spain, Albania, Syria and Lebanon, skirting the edges of two of Washington's biggest foreign policy problems - the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and relations with European opponents of the Iraq war.

Spain and Albania strongly supported the US decision to invade Iraq and overthrow Saddam. Powell will not visit European countries opposed to the invasion, such as France and Germany.

Next week Powell meets Israelis and Palestinians for talks on a peace "road map" leading to a Palestinian state by 2005.