The U.S. military said a Marine was killed in combat in western Anbar province on Sunday, bringing the death toll for the month to 100. October was already the deadliest month since January 2005 when 107 U.S. troops were killed. The highest monthly toll was in November 2004 when 137 deaths were recorded.


Since the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein, a total of 2,813 U.S. troops have been killed.

Opinion polls show growing numbers of U.S. voters want to see the 140,000 U.S. troops in Iraq starting to come home.

Bush's Republican Party faces possible loss of control of Congress in November 7 elections, with opinion polls showing dismay over his policy on Iraq could be a critical factor in voter intentions.

POOR LABOURERS

Monday's bombing in Baghdad occurred as Shi'ite labourers were lining up for day jobs in a square in Sadr City, a stronghold of radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who heads the powerful Mehdi Army militia.

The blast tore through food stalls and shops. Scattered clothes and twisted metal lay amid debris and pools of blood.

"They were poor labourers bringing a daily living to their family. Let's have Maliki hear that," an angry witness said.

There were conflicting reports as to whether the blast was caused by a bomb hidden inside a garbage can or by a mortar.

Sunni Arab insurgents battling U.S. forces and the Shi'ite- led government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki have in the past struck Sadr City with bombs and mortar shells.


Maliki and his U.S. backers have been struggling to bring stability to Iraq more than three years after the U.S.-led invasion. Sectarian violence kills about 100 people a day and political wrangling is hampering reforms.

Maliki and Bush agreed at the weekend to accelerate efforts to build up Iraqi security forces after days of public tension between the two leaders.

Bush, aiming to calm an increasingly impatient America over the war in Iraq, reminded Maliki last week that his patience was "not unlimited" and his support for the prime minister conditional on him making "tough decisions".

Washington is anxious for Maliki, a Shi'ite Islamist, to crack down on Shi'ite militia death squads blamed for much of the killing that is pushing Iraq towards a sectarian civil war.

After days of public wrangling that raised new questions about Iraq policy before next month's U.S. midterm elections, Maliki and the U.S. ambassador declared common goals on Friday and said Baghdad had "timelines" for political developments.

Building effective Iraqi security forces is a key plank in Bush's plans for an eventual withdrawal of U.S. troops.

Maliki told Reuters on Thursday he could get violence under control in six months if the U.S. military gave his forces more weapons and responsibility.

A top U.S. general said last week it could take 12 or 18 months for Iraqi forces to be ready to take responsibility for the whole country.

Basra is about 80 percent Shiite, Iraq's majority sect that makes up the bulk of the police and security forces nationwide, especially in the predominantly Shiite south. Most of the murdered policemen were believed to have been Shiite.

Gunmen also attacked an Iraqi government convoy and wounded a bodyguard of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, but the leader was not in the procession, officials said Sunday as violence rose in Baghdad after a post-Ramadan lull.

A mortar attack elsewhere in the capital killed four Iraqis and wounded four, while other gun assaults left two policemen and a civilian dead and two officers wounded. A kidnapped state television host and his driver also were found slain.

North of Baghdad, gunmen ambushed a convoy of Sunni pilgrims bound for Islam's holy city of Mecca and killed at least one person, with attacks across Iraq causing a total of at least 15 deaths. The bodies of 23 people also were found, most believed to be the victims of sectarian reprisal killings.

The U.S. military said its troops foiled an ambush near Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad, early Sunday, killing 17 suspected insurgents with gunfire and aerial attacks. No U.S. or Iraqi soldiers died in the fighting, the military said in a statement.

Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh did not release the name of al-Maliki's bodyguard or give his condition, but said the prime minister was not in the convoy hit by gunfire in the volatile capital's southeastern al-Rashad neighborhood. He gave no other details on the attack.

Al-Maliki enjoys the support of the main Shiite parties that operate militias blamed for much of the recent violence in the capital, but Sunni insurgents and extremists from al-Qaida in Iraq consider him and his U.S.-backed government a primary target.

Baghdad had enjoyed a respite in recent days from bombings, shootings and torture killings that spiked during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, but bloodshed resumed Saturday. Violence this month has killed 98 U.S. servicemen, making October the fourth deadliest month for American troops since the war began.

Saddam Hussein's chief lawyer said Sunday that he sent a letter to President Bush warning of civil war in Iraq and chaos spreading through the Mideast if the ex-president is sentenced to death in his trial stemming from an anti-Shiite crackdown in the 1980s.

"I warned him against the death penalty and against any other decision that would inflame a civil war in Iraq and send fire throughout the region," Khalil al-Dulaimi said.

"Any foolish American decision will further complicate things and will pose a serious threat to U.S. interests in the region," he said.

Hearings in Saddam's second trial, on charges of genocide against the Kurds, are to resume Monday.

Thousands of people rallied peacefully in Baghdad's sprawling Shiite slum of Sadr City to protest a six-day-old security operation that has closed off routes into the area.

"We have taken to the streets in a peaceful demonstration to demand the lifting the siege clamped on this oppressed city," said Sheikh Hayder al-Saadi, a supporter of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose Mahdi Army militia dominates the district.

High winds, meanwhile, swept across much of central Iraq, triggering a huge sandstorm that kept people off the streets in the Euphrates River city of Samawah, about 230 miles southeast of Baghdad.

There were no reports of fresh exchanges between American authorities and al-Maliki, who on four occasions last week challenged U.S. handling of the war.

Al-Maliki, whose Shiite-dominated government is backed by U.S. troops, had been angered by an announcement from the U.S. ambassador Tuesday that the Iraqi leader agreed to a U.S. plan to set timelines for progress in quelling violence in Iraq.

After a hastily arranged video conference with Bush on Saturday, al-Maliki said the U.S. president promised to move swiftly to turn over full control of the Iraqi army to the Baghdad government.

It wasn't clear whether al-Maliki's tough stance was a matter of conviction or a bid to bolster support among his followers by appearing strong and independent. However, Hassan al-Suneid, a close aide, later said the prime minister was intentionally playing on U.S. voter displeasure with the war to strengthen his hand with Washington.

Following Saturday's talks, White House spokesman Tony Snow said al-Maliki is "not America's man in Iraq. The United States is there in a role to assist him. He's the prime minister - he's the leader of the Iraqi people."

Snow denied there was any rift between the United States and Iraq and said Bush had full confidence in al-Maliki.

"This decision will set ablaze anew the country and plunge the entire region into the unknown..." said he.

A verdict in Saddam's first trial is expected Nov. 5. The defendants face possible execution if found guilty.

Dulaimi said the verdict due by the court was timed to coincide with US Congressional elections.

"There is an unfair decision that has already been taken by the court to eliminate President Saddam Hussein in time with the U.S. Congressional elections, through which the U.S. administration seeks to safeguard its position," he said.

In the letter, the lawyer also warned Bush: "You will risk your troops who have lost control over Iraq and you will place in danger your interests and the security of the region."

Dulaimi urged Bush to set free Saddam and put an end to the trial which he described again as illegal and a farce, adding that he would break a monthlong boycott and attend proceedings Monday when Saddam's second trial resumes on separate charges of genocide against the Kurds.

In a separate letter by Saddam himself, addressed to the court's presiding judge, the ousted president also called for the verdict against him not to be pronounced on Nov. 5, just two days before the U.S. midterm elections.

Saddam warned that such timing would reinforce Bush's Republican party in the elections. "The propaganda machine will seek to show that Bush has achieved his strategic goal" in Iraq, he was quoted as saying by media reports.

Meanwhile, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, denied speculation that the timing of the verdict was set to coincide with midterm elections in the United States.

"That decision was made by the Iraqi judges," he told CNN on Sunday when asked about the verdict being scheduled two days ahead of the elections.

Saddam's defense team began boycotting the trial Sept. 24 after the dismissal of the chief judge, who had been criticized as being too soft on Saddam.

The lawyers said later they also were protesting the five-judge court's refusal to give them more time to review some 10,000 documents in the trial.

Presented to a cabinet committee on security earlier this month and circulated among ministers and security chiefs, the papers say that actions overseas must in future be designed to reduce the threat of terrorism.

Their contents undermine Blair's denials that Britain's actions in Iraq and Afghanistan trigger terrorist attacks against Britain. Four British Muslim suicide bombers killed themselves and 52 London commuters in July last year.

The documents say demand a "significant reduction in the number and intensity of the regional conflicts that fuel terror activity" and set out a list of perfect scenarios in a series of trouble spots 10 years from now.

They call for stability for Iraq and Afghanistan,
Israel to live in "peaceful coexistence" with its Arab neighbors and Iran to be devoid of nuclear weapons.

They also say that there should be "no new failed states, dictatorships or wars" in the Middle East and South Asia.

"If all or most of the above were in place, threats from other sources of Islamic terrorism (eg Indonesia, Philippines, Nigeria) would be manageable or on the way to resolution," they conclude.

"Any remaining deployments of the British armed forces should be seen as contributing to international stability and security."

Blair's office declined to comment on the leaked documents, but said: "We recognise that people have used Iraq as an excuse for terrorist activity but clearly plenty of terrorist activity against the UK and its citizens has pre-dated that.

In an interview in The Observer weekly, meanwhile, General Charles Guthrie, a former chief of the defense staff, described the deployment of soldiers in Afghanistan as "cuckoo."

"Anyone who thought this was going to be a picnic in Afghanistan ....to launch the British army in with the numbers there are, while we're still going in Iraq, is cuckoo," he told The Observer.

Lord Guthrie, who was one of Blair's most trusted commanders before he quit in 2001, also cast doubt on Blair's claim that he would produce all the extra helicopters and other resources the army needed.

Guthrie's comments follow those of General Sir Richard Dannatt, the chief of the General Staff, who called this month for troops to be withdrawn from Iraq "sometime soon" because they were contributing to Britain's security problems.

Dannatt later toned down his remarks.

Meanwhile, The Independent on Sunday reported that the British army is so stretched from having to fight on two fronts that 40 percent of army divisions report they are suffering from "serious or critical" problems.

Manning shortages mean that soldiers are having to go on tours of duty before they are properly rested or trained, according to the weekly, citing a Ministry of Defence briefing document.

Members of parliament who have seen the official memo say the problem is threatening the army's ability to fight insurgents in Iraq and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The MoD insists that the military is simply "stretched" and still able to fulfil its orders, the weekly said.

The move will be seen as a huge blow to progress in Iraq and has infuriated senior military commanders. They say it sends a message to the insurgents that they are winning the battle in pushing the British out of the southern Iraqi capital, where several British soldiers have died and dozens have been injured.

The evacuation also comes halfway through Operation Sinbad, which has experienced some success in restoring control in Basra. The operation ends early next year but Basra will need massive investment by the Foreign Office and the Department for International Development to build on its successes.

Without the British officials' presence the stability of the city's fragile economy and political infrastructure could unravel, paving the way for Iranian-influenced militias to take control. There are about 200 staff at the impressive consulate building - formerly one of Saddam's palaces - including a team of bodyguards and ex-Gurkha guards. There were 12 full-time staff, some hand-picked by Tony Blair.

A handful have already left by helicopter and the rest are expected to go this week, some of them to Basra air station eight miles outside the city and the rest back to Britain. A skeleton staff will continue to man the building until it is deemed safe enough for the rest to return. A Foreign Office spokesman insisted last night that its officials were "not bailing out".

"This is a temporary measure as a response to increased mortar attacks," the spokesman said. "Core staff will remain at Basra Palace and the consulate will continue to maintain a full range of activities."

The Foreign Office and Dfid operation in southern Iraq has been criticised for the poor handling of economic and political regeneration in the area.

While £14 million has been spent on refurbishing the consulate, including a new portico, hardened roof defences and swimming pool, it has spent just £12.5 million on reconstruction that included repainting a tower in the city.

The palace, which is surrounded by a 30ft blast wall and graced with manicured lawns, is in the same fortified compound as 800 British infantry.

Major Charlie Burbridge, the British military spokesman in Basra, said: "We believe very strongly that the Foreign Office and other agencies are critical to the long term solution in Iraq. We have worked closely in our shared endeavour and will continue to do so."