US and Iraqi casualties mount as violence continues to spread

Clashes between Shia gunmen and US-led occupation forces spread to several more cities across Iraq yesterday, with British and Italian troops involved in fighting that killed dozens of Iraqis.

The disturbances in Baghdad, which left three US soldiers dead, forced the UN special envoy to Iraq, Mr Lakhdar Brahimi, to postpone a series of meetings because of the security crisis.

The veteran negotiator arrived at the weekend to hear Iraqi politicians' views on how to form the interim government that is supposed to take power when the occupation officially ends in three months.

But despite fears that the coalition is in danger of losing control of some areas of the country, Mr Paul Bremer, the top US administrator, insisted that the planned transfer of sovereignty on June 30th would not be delayed.

"We have problems, there's no hiding that, but basically Iraq is on track to realise the kind of Iraq that Iraqis and Americans want, which is a democratic Iraq," he told ABC's Good Morning America programme.

"We have got some groups who don't agree with that vision ... Instead they think power in Iraq should come out of the barrel of a gun and that is intolerable and we will deal with it."

Coalition forces confronted unrest in a number of towns and cities:

- Thirty-four Iraqis were reported killed in Falluja in a rocket attack and in fierce gun battles between the Americans and insurgents. The US also announced four soldiers had been killed in al-Anbar province. The Americans refused to say where, but Falluja is within the province.

- In Sadr city, a part of Baghdad that is one of the main bases for the radical movement of the young cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, 11 Iraqis died, according to hospital officials.

The Americans said three soldiers were killed.

- In the southern town of Amara, fighting between Mr Sadr's followers and British troops killed 15 Iraqis and wounded eight, according to a coalition spokesman.

- In Nassiriya, which is mainly patrolled by some 3,000 Italian troops, several hundred Sadr supporters seized the main bridges across the Euphrates shortly before dawn.

Fifteen Iraqis are thought to have died and one Bulgarian civilian.

- In Kut, a Ukrainian soldier was killed and five were wounded when militants attacked an armoured personnel carrier. Ukraine has about 1,650 troops in Iraq. About 500 Japanese soldiers stationed in Samawah were ordered to halt humanitarian activities and retreat to the safety of their camp.

In Nassiriya, Italian troops regained control of the main bridges after a gun battle.

"The city was divided in two, with the bridges under their control. We had to go in and sort out the situation before it deteriorated," Maj Simone Schiavone said.

The heavily fortified coalition headquarters building in Nassiriya also came under attack.

There were reports of fierce skirmishes on the outskirts of Falluja, which has been sealed off as US marines sought to avenge the deaths of four US security guards who were mutilated and dragged through the streets last week.

All roads into the town are blocked and reporters have no access. Witnesses reached by phone said troops were going into houses and a mosque. Five Iraqis were reported killed by helicopter gunships.

In what appeared to be an attempt to capitalise on the unrest, a tape from senior al Qaeda member Abu Musab al-Zarqawi yesterday urged Islamist militants to step up their attacks on both the occupying forces and Iraq's Shias.