Iraqi guerilla fighter shot dead in Tikrit

Lieutenant Colonel Steve Russell, commander of the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment which is spearheading the hunt for anti-US resistance in the city, told reporters his patrol fired on a man who seemed to be preparing to fire a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) in the early hours of the morning.

He said it was unclear if there was any connection with a number of grenades or possibly small mortars fired at the US headquarters in Saddam's sprawling palace compound in Tikrit on Tuesday or with a roadway landmine blast north of town that killed an American civilian working on military contracts.

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"I'd call this a militarily insignificant spurt (in attacks)," Russell said. He said last week's end of classes at Tikrit University might have led to more young men being recruited by guerilla organisers but said he was still confident that the diehard Saddam loyalists were being beaten.

"Our soldiers saw a man armed with an RPG... He was sneaking through an alleyway," he said, holding up a black, Iraqi-made grenade launcher of a type commonly used. "He actually had the RPG loaded.. My guys, they just opened up."

It was not clear if he was killed as, by the time reinforcements arrived to check the area, there was no sign of him. Iraqi guerillas generally remove their dead and wounded to avoid US forces identifying them.

"The soldiers saw him fall," Russell said. There is no doubt that we hit him and pre-empted their attack."

"We will engage and kill anyone armed with an RPG," he said. US and US-backed Iraqi forces do not use them.

AFP adds: A US soldier fell off a roof to his death in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, the military said yesterday.

"A soldier from the 101st Airborne Division was killed when he fell from a roof of a fixed site at 7:30 pm (local time) on August 5 in Mosul," according to a statement released in Baghdad.

"The soldier was evacuated to 23rd combat support hospital and was pronounced dead at approximately 8:15 pm," it added.

At least 57 American troops have now died in non-combat incidents since US President George W. Bush declared major combat operations in Iraq over on May 1, while 53 US soldiers have been killed in guerrilla-style attacks.