US promises to hunt down Falluja killers

United States troops have promised an "overwhelming" response to killings in the Iraqi town of Falluja and vowed to hunt down those who shot and mutilated four American contractors.

Marines have taken up positions on the outskirts of the restive town west of Baghdad where the contractors were ambushed by insurgents on Wednesday and then set on by a crowd.

"Coalition forces will respond," the US Army's deputy director of operations Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt told a news conference.

"They are coming back and they are going to hunt down the people responsible for this bestial act.

"It will be at a time and a place of our choosing. It will be methodical, it will be precise and it will be overwhelming."

A leaflet distributed in Falluja on Thursday claimed that the previously unknown "group of Sheikh Ahmad Yassin" had killed the Americans in response to the Israeli assassination of Hamas spiritual leader Yassin last month. It was not immediately possible to verify the claim.

Falluja was relatively quiet yesterday, but residents said more bloody killings should be expected.

"The Americans may think it is unusual but this is what they should expect. They show up in places and shoot civilians so why can't they be killed?" Falluja shop worker Amir said.

US troops fired on demonstrators in Falluja last April, killing at least 15 people. Other residents have been killed since then and locals accuse US troops of firing randomly and using excessive violence during raids. They always vow revenge.

An Iraqi Governing Council member stressed that those responsible represented a small minority of Iraqis but also encouraged US troops to think carefully about how to respond.

"In 1958, July 14, some members of the royal family were killed and mutilated. Iraqis were ashamed for decades at this barbaric event," Samir Sumaidi said.

"Now after this I feel that again Iraqis will hang their heads in shame."

Guerrillas near Falluja detonated a roadside bomb as a US convoy passed by on Thursday, wounding three soldiers.

One Humvee left behind by American soldiers near the site of the attack was later set ablaze and looted by a crowd of Iraqis.

A roadside bomb killed five US soldiers on Wednesday in the same area.

The US governor of Iraq Paul Bremer vowed to hunt down those responsible for ambushing the contractors, and those who then torched the corpses and dragged them through the streets before hanging them from a bridge.

"The acts we have seen were despicable and inexcusable," he said.

"They violate the tenets of all religions, Islam included, as well as the foundations of civilised society. Their deaths will not go unpunished."

As the violence sparked renewed concern among foreign organisations working in Iraq, a US-sponsored trade fair for companies rebuilding Iraq was postponed.

Organisers of the Baghdad Expo, a major trade fair that had been due to start on Monday, said it was postponed - a blow to US efforts to draw investment to Iraq and project an image of a stable country. No new date was set for the event.

Washington hopes economic growth in Iraq will help to undermine the guerrilla insurgency, but so far the lack of security in some parts of Iraq has hampered reconstruction.

In Baquba, 65km north of Baghdad, police said insurgents killed two policemen and seriously wounded three in a drive-by shooting on Thursday.

Those fighting the US-led occupation have increasingly targeted members of Iraq's fledgling security forces, seeing them as working too closely with the occupiers.

More Iraqi security officials than US soldiers have been killed since the US invaded.

In Basra, a Shi'ite city 550km south of Baghdad, at least one Iraqi was killed in clashes between Iraqi police and around 100 protesters demanding their salaries.

The protesters threw stones and set tyres on fire.

The US military death toll last month was the second highest of any month since President George W. Bush declared major combat over on May 1 last year.

At least 50 American troops died in Iraq in March, said Pentagon figures. The deadliest month for US forces was November, when 82 US troops died.

At least 407 American troops have been killed in action in Iraq since US-led forces invaded on March 20 last year to topple Saddam Hussein.

Guerrilla attacks in March also killed at least 16 foreign civilians, including the four who died in Falluja on Wednesday.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq