A blistering series of attacks, coming nearly hourly, wounded seven US soldiers in Iraq last night as the United States offered a $2,500 reward for information leading to the arrest of anyone who kills a coalition soldier or Iraqi policeman.
The reward is aimed at stemming an insurgency that has plagued efforts to restore security and basic services. Last week, the US-led provisional authority put a $25 million bounty on the head of Saddam Hussein, and a $15 million reward for the capture of either of the ousted dictator's two sons.
"I urge the Iraqi people to come forward to take these people off the streets of the country," former New York police commissioner Mr Bernard Kerik said in announcing the $2,500 reward.
Mr Kerik, who is in charge of security in Iraq, also said US forces and Iraqi police had arrested Sabah Mirza, who was a bodyguard for Saddam in the 1980s before being fired.A raid on Mirza's farm after his June 26 arrest netted plastic explosives, mortars, a machine gun and 10,000 rounds of ammunition.
Meanwhile, a US soldier attached to the 101st Airborne Division was killed in what the military said was a non-combat gunshot wound near Balad, 55 miles north of the capital, the military said. The soldier's name was withheld pending notification of next-of-kin, and no further details were available.