Agence France Presse  --  Arab News

BAGHDAD, 16 May 2004 — President George W. Bush vowed yesterday that US troops would stay in Iraq after the June 30 handover of sovereignty or until the country was secure, as fierce fresh fighting across the country claimed dozens of lives.

In his weekly radio address, Bush said: “America will keep its commitment to the independence and national dignity of the Iraqi people.

“Yet the vital mission of our military in helping to provide security will continue on July 1 and beyond.”

The comments followed those on Friday by the US secretary of state and foreign ministers of Britain, Italy and Japan who said their countries would withdraw their troops from Iraq if the new interim authority requested. But Secretary of State Colin Powell said it was highly unlikely they would be asked to leave.

A new poll by Newsweek magazine yesterday revealed public approval for the US president had hit a new low, as Americans show increasing disapproval of the US occupation of Iraq.

Three more US soldiers were killed in separate incidents on Friday and yesterday taking to 781 the number of US troops killed since the start of the US-led invasion in March last year.

In the northern city of Mosul, four Iraqis were killed and 17 wounded in an attack on a recruiting center for the new Iraqi army, police said.