Army patrol ambushed in Iraq, 19 killed

Baquba: Insurgents ambushed an Iraqi army patrol north of Baghdad on Saturday, killing 19 soldiers in a well-planned attack, a day after the Pentagon announced 10 US Marines were killed by a bomb west of the Capital.

The Iraqi soldiers were traveling in a five-vehicle patrol near Baquba, 60 km from Baghdad, when they were hit by a roadside bomb. Immediately afterwards, gunmen opened fire in what police described as a well-planned assault.

Police sources said that 19 soldiers were killed and that they were from southern Iraq where the population is largely Shi'ite Muslim, potentially adding a sectarian element to the attack.

The attack in Baquba, where there has been a surge in militant activity over the past three weeks, followed the assault on the Marines near the city of Falluja on Thursday, the deadliest attack on US troops for four months.

An Iraqi militant group posted a video on Saturday, which showed what it said was an explosion near Fallujah that killed the 10 US Marines.

The Islamic Army group in Iraq is among several insurgent organisations battling US troops and Iraqi forces.

The brief video shows a Humvee, flanked by what look like US troops, traveling slowly down a street when an explosion engulfed the vehicle, sending clouds of dust into the air and bystanders fleeing.

An off-camera voice was heard saying "Allah is Great" repeatedly.

Rise in violence

The Marines were on a foot patrol near a factory when they were struck by a bomb made out of several artillery shells strung together.

The deaths raise to more than 2,120 the number of US troops to have died in the war.

US commanders have said that they expect an increase in violence in the build up to the election.

Over the past three weeks there has a been a series of car bombings and suicide attacks that have killed more than 230 Iraqis, mostly civilians.

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Many of the strikes have been sectarian in nature, with Sunni Arab insurgents targeting the Shi'ite majority in an attempt to sow discord and push the country closer to civil war.

On Saturday, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the country's most influential Shi'ite cleric, issued instructions to followers urging them to vote in the election and to cast their ballots in favour of religious candidates from the principle lists.

While falling short of a religious edict, the instructions are likely to have an impact on voting and looked like a coded endorsement of the main Shi'ite bloc contesting the elections, the United Iraqi Alliance, winner of January's poll.

Saddam Hussein's Baath party, responding to a speech by US President George W Buch outlining a "strategy for victory" in Iraq, on Saturday said Bush needs only to think about how to pull out his troops from Iraq.