A dozen people from four nations involved in the occupation of Iraq have been killed this weekend, sparking renewed debate among Washington's allies about the benefits of assisting stabilisation efforts.
In all, 14 deaths - of two South Koreans, seven Spaniards, two Japanese and a Colombian as well as two American soldiers - rounded off the bloodiest month for the occupying forces since the US invasion to oust Saddam Hussein in March.
US combat losses total 74 for November alone and 301 for the whole campaign. The month also saw heavy losses among other US allies, notably 19 Italians killed in a suicide bombing.
Soldiers and civilians from about a dozen allied nations have now been killed in Iraq, in addition to Americans and Iraqis and employees of international organisations, aid agencies and media operating independently of the US forces.
The two South Koreans, believed to be electricity workers, were killed on Sunday when their convoy was shot up outside Saddam's hometown of Tikrit, the South Korean Foreign Ministry said.
Two others were wounded. A day earlier, seven Spanish intelligence agents, two Japanese diplomats and a Colombian civilian working for the US armed forces were killed.
The US military in Iraq said three civilians of unspecified nationality were killed in an attack near Tikrit in what appeared to be the incident involving the Koreans.
They died on the same highway as two Japanese diplomats who were gunned down by the roadside as they bought food at a stall. The diplomats' Iraqi driver was also killed.
The Japanese, South Korean and Spanish governments now all face serious questions over their commitments to help the United States after it attacked Iraq and ousted Saddam in the face of opposition from many key United Nations allies.
President Roh Moo-hyun has committed to sending more South Korean troops to Iraq in addition to 675 medics and military engineers deployed since May. But he has yet to make the politically sensitive decision whether to include combat forces in the expected 3,000-strong contingent.
In Spain, Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar remained defiant despite calls for him to recall the 1,300 Spanish troops helping to control south-central Iraq.
As the dead were flown home to Madrid, opposition socialists put aside their stiff objections to the war to join the outpouring of sorrow. Other opposition parties demanded the resignation of the defence minister and a troop withdrawal.
"Spain pays a high price," the left-leaning newspaper El Paissaid in an editorial. El Mundodescribed the killings as: "Deaths which require explanations and reflection".
In Japan, political analysts say Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi risks a serious blow to his popularity if troops are sent to Iraq and deaths occur.
Despite an election to parliament's Upper House set for next July, Mr Koizumi said: "Japan must not give in to terrorism. We will firmly carry out our responsibilities for humanitarian aid and reconstruction. There is no change in this."
The two US soldiers were killed yesterday near the Syrian border by attackers firing assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, while the Colombian contractor was shot in an ambush on his convoy near Balad, north of Baghdad.
Since Mr Bush declared major combat over on May 1st, 187 American soldiers have been killed in action in Iraq, putting pressure on the president to accelerate handing control of the country back to Iraqis ahead of his own bid for re-election a year from now.