Wave of attacks claim US casualties in Iraq

One US soldier was killed and four were wounded in Iraqi ambushes yesterday and, in another incident, US forces seized a brother-in-law of Saddam Hussein, the US military said.

It was a rare US fatality in action since President George W. Bush declared the end of major combat on May 1 - three weeks after a US-led invasion toppled Saddam.

Gunmen fired machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades at a convoy of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment near Haditha, 180 kilometres northwest of Baghdad, a US statement said.

Hours later, an explosion ripped through a US military convoy on the outskirts of Baghdad, wounding three soldiers and destroying their Humvee military car.

"They deserved it and they deserve more. They are occupiers, not liberators," said Ali Abbas, a resident of the Amiriyah area in western Baghdad.

The US military reported two other attacks yesterday. On Sunday, a US soldier was killed and another injured in an explosion at a facility containing Iraqi ammunition south of Baghdad.

In other action on Sunday, US forces detained a brother- in-law of Saddam, identified as Mulhana Hamood Abdul Jabar.

He was detained in Tikrit, Saddam's home town and former powerbase, and had $300,000, eight million dinars ($6,000), three AK-47 assault rifles and a rocket-propelled grenade.

US efforts to pacify Iraq after the ousting of Saddam have moved slowly and a top cleric, told to disarm his private army, kept Americans guessing yesterday on whether he would comply.

In a Reuters interview, Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer al-Hakim said his militia, which is meant to hand over weapons by June 14, was unarmed but that Iraqis had a right to defend themselves because the Americans were failing to keep the peace.