Naseer Al-Nahr, Asharq Al-Awsat

BAGHDAD, 15 November 2003 — US troops stepped up their offensive against resistance fighters and Washington moved to accelerate the handover of power amid a surge in violence as two more US soldiers were killed in Iraq, the military announced yesterday.

US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld denied that the American-led coalition in Iraq was in trouble, while US overseer Paul Bremer arrived in Baghdad to try to accelerate the transfer of power and security control to Iraqis.

But US Secretary of State Colin Powell said later yesterday that a new leader for Iraq has not yet emerged, dealing a potential blow to members of the interim Governing Council who may aspire to run the country.

Meanwhile, on the ground two US soldiers were killed and three wounded in a bomb attack on their convoy 110 kilometers (70 miles) north of Baghdad on Thursday, the US military said.

The soldiers’ deaths raised to 159 the number of US soldiers killed in combat in Iraq since May 1, when US President George W. Bush declared major hostilities over.

An American civilian working for the US Army was also killed and another wounded when assailants opened fire on them as they were traveling north of Baghdad near Balad, a military spokeswoman said yesterday.

A US helicopter gunship killed seven people allegedly preparing to fire rockets at a US base in northern Iraq and troops later found hundreds of other missiles and rockets, the same spokeswoman said.

The offensive was part of “Operation Ivy Cyclone”, launched after the downing of a US Blackhawk helicopter near Tikrit on Nov. 7, killing all six on board, she added.

A senior military officer said US forces in Tikrit early yesterday captured four men suspected of involvement in the downing of US helicopters.

In Baghdad, the 1st Armored Division pursued “Operation Iron Hammer” air and ground offensive targeting resistance fighters said to be supporters of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein.

In Basra, dozens of Iraqi police armed with AK-47 assault rifles stood guard at various government establishments and installations, and controlled the southern port city’s main entrances and intersections.

South of Basra, a Portuguese journalist was abducted after his convoy came under attack while crossing into Iraq from Kuwait, media in Lisbon reported.

Coalition civilian staff in Basra were confined to their headquarters for the next 36 hours for security reasons, a spokesman said following Wednesday’s attack on an Italian base in Nassiriyah which killed 18 Italian soldiers and nine Iraqis.

Italian armed police also sealed off early yesterday the riverside area under the bombed-out base and searched the Euphrates River in vain for two hours for possible human remains of missing comrades or civilians.

Marina Catena, political counselor to Rome’s special envoy in Iraq, told reporters that the bodies of the slain Italians would be flown home tomorrow, as wounded Italian troops arrived back yesterday.

State funerals for the slain Italians have been set for Tuesday in Rome, which has blamed the attack on the Al-Qaeda terror network.

Bush vowed that US-led troops in Iraq will hunt down Saddam and will not leave before transforming that war-ravaged nation into a democracy.

“We will stay until the job is done. And the job is for Iraq to be free and peaceful ... And we’ll find Saddam Hussein,” he said.

Bush said that Bremer had opened consultations with the US-anointed Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) “to speed up the political process in a rational way.”

— Additional input from agencies