Another American Soldier Killed in Iraq

"At 1 pm (1000 GMT) today in Fallujah, a patrol from the 82nd Airborne Division was attacked," it said. The attack involved an explosive device "followed by small arms fire."

The attack was at least the third in the hotspot town in two days in the wake of messages, purportedly from ousted Iraqi leader Saddam issuing calls to arms against the US-led occupiers.

Turkey, meanwhile, said Monday the deployment of Turkish troops to Iraq was not currently on Ankara’s agenda.

"For that to happen, the situation has to move on," Interior Minister Cemil Cicek said. "And that is something that does not depend on us. That is why there is no question of our taking one step further" for the moment.

Cicek’s comments follow Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s warning Saturday that Turkey would give up plans to send peacekeeping troops to Iraq if they are not wanted in the war-ravaged country.

Erdogan’s remarks follow harsh objections to a Turkish military involvement in Iraq by the country’s interim leadership.

On the reconstruction front, US officials have stepped up their bid to secure more funds for rebuilding Iraq ahead of the two-day donors conference which opens in Spain on Thursday.

"I hope they will come in a generous manner to help the people of Iraq, to make a statement to the Iraqi people that the international community is there with them and for them," Secretary of State Colin Powell told business leaders on the sidelines of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.

In a bid to overcome resistance to providing large cash and in-kind donations, the United States has endorsed two key provisions giving non-US players a say in how reconstruction funds are spent, officials said.

Both provisions are to be discussed in Madrid, where organisers hope to meet as far as possible the need for what a World Bank and UN report has estimated as 36 billion dollars in reconstruction aid between 2004 and 2007.

And as donor countries prepared to gather in the Spanish capital, Iraq was counting on the international community to provide the funds to repair its blighted infrastructure.

Monday’s deadly attack in Fallujah came a day after a US truck exploded when assailants attacked a convoy apparently transporting weapons and ammunition in the centre of the same town.

When soldiers returned to remove the vehicle late Sunday, they came under renewed attack and fired back, killing one Iraqi bystander and wounding another, witnesses said.

Following the attack, a number of people in the town chanted slogans in support of ousted strongman Saddam, toppled by US forces six months ago.

Later, at least eight explosions were heard from the US military base in Fallujah. And an anti-tank rocket was fired at a US convoy in the nearby town of Khaldiyah, witnesses said.

One witness described it as the first reaction to bin Laden’s messages, aired Saturday by Qatar’s Al-Jazeera television.

The voice claiming to be that of the al-Qaeda leader threatened to send bomb attackers to the United States and to attack any forces joining the coalition in Iraq.