Polish major killed in Iraq

Guerillas shot and killed a Polish army officer south of Baghdad yesterday, the first soldier to die from a multi-national division set up to relieve the pressure on US forces trying to stabilise Iraq.

In Washington, President George W. Bush demanded democracy and liberty in the Middle East - naming even close ally Egypt - in his latest bid to justify the war in Iraq which ousted Saddam Hussein as necessary to foster democracy.

The death of the Polish officer in Iraq came as Britain's top envoy to Baghdad warned of a "rough winter" ahead in the face of increasingly bold guerilla violence.

The Pentagon began alerting tens of thousands of US troops for Iraq duty next year, although officers hope to cut the total number of US soldiers in the country by May.

The American military, which has borne the lion's share of casualties in the task force it leads in Iraq, said yesterday two more of its soldiers had been killed.

Attackers firing guns and rocket-propelled grenades killed one US soldier and wounded two others in an ambush south of Baghdad on Wednesday evening, US Central Command said.

That attack brought to 139 the number of US soldiers killed in action since Washington declared on May 1 that major combat was over in the war that ousted Saddam.