Naseer Al-Nahr, Arab News

BAGHDAD, 19 April 2004 — The US military suffered one of its worst single-day casualties in Iraq on Saturday when 10 soldiers were killed in fighting. The US-led coalition also suffered a setback when the newly installed prime minister of Spain ordered the Spanish troops home “as soon as possible.”

The US troop casualties included five Marines killed in pitched battles near the Syrian border. An eleventh soldier died in a tank rollover, the military said yesterday.

Two Iraqi civilians were killed in a guerrilla rocket barrage in Baghdad.

In the far-western city of Husaybah, five Marines were killed during a daylong firefight waged after a Marine patrol was ambushed Saturday morning by fighters with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.

Helicopter-backed reinforcements also came under heavy rifle and RPG fire from as many as 150 fighters who fought through the night and into yesterday, according to a release from the 1st Marine Division.

Marines killed 25 to 30 insurgents in the battle, the release said. A hospital official in the neighboring town of Al-Qaim reported 10 Iraqis killed and 30 wounded, a mixture of fighters and civilian bystanders.

Also Saturday, three US Army soldiers traveling in a 1st Armored Division convoy were killed when their convoy came under fire near the southern city of Diwaniyah, the military said.

Another US soldier was killed Saturday morning when a roadside bomb exploded near a military convoy in Baghdad, the military said. The soldier was from Task Force Baghdad.

Separately, a US Marine from the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force was also killed in action in western Iraq, the Marines said, giving no further details.

Also Saturday, a US Army soldier was killed and two others were injured when their Abrams tank rolled over in northern Baghdad. The military did not say whether the rollover occurred during combat, and did not specify the soldiers’ unit.

The names of the dead troops were withheld pending notification of families.

The deaths brought to 99 the number of US troops killed in violence since April 1. At least 697 US service members have died in Iraq since the war began in March 2003.

Amid the surge in violence, Spain’s new Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said yesterday he had given orders for Spain’s 1,300 troops in Iraq to be brought home as soon as possible.

The announcement, made in a televised speech, came just one day after Zapatero was sworn in after the Socialists’ upset victory in March 14 general elections.

He said he had given Defense Minister Jose Bono “the order to do what is necessary for the Spanish troops in Iraq to come home in the shortest time and in the greatest safety possible.”

Zapatero had pledged during his election campaign to bring home the Spanish troops if the United Nations did not take charge in Iraq by June 30.

US President George W. Bush has urged Spain and other allies in Iraq to stick with Washington.

“According to the information we have... it is not likely that a UN resolution will be adopted that will meet the conditions we have set for our presence in Iraq,” Zapatero said.

There was no report of fresh fighting in the southern city of Najaf and the central Sunni town of Fallujah. Both cities are encircled by US troops.

The United States yesterday it will not negotiate for the release of a missing American soldier being held by the fighters. US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, appearing on “Fox News Sunday,” said Washington was taking unspecified measures to ensure security for its troops and nationals.

One of those being held is Pvt. Keith Matthew Maupin, 20, of Batavia, Ohio, who has been missing since April 9 and was identified on a tape broadcast Friday by the Al-Jazeera network.

Rice said while efforts were continuing to obtain the release of hostages, “I think you can be certain that negotiations with terrorists are not on this president’s agenda.”

Iraqis have seized about 50 foreigners this month. Most have been freed, but the captors of four Italians killed one and threatened to kill the rest unless Italian troops leave Iraq.

— Additional input from agencies