Twelve Iraqis die in upsurge in Ramadan bloodshed

Bombs and clashes killed 12 Iraqis yestereday in a surge of Ramadan attacks that also claimed the lives of an Estonian and an American soldier.

An Interior Ministry official said he had no figures for the violence since the Muslim fasting month began 10 days ago but added: "We can't deny that there has been an increased number of attacks during Ramadan."

An Estonian soldier was killed and five were wounded in a bomb blast in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, officials said.

A roadside bomb killed a US soldier and wounded five in western Baghdad, the US military said. The death brought to 845 the number of US troops killed in action since the start of the Iraq war last year.

In the first attack on their contingent since the end of the war, three Australians were hurt when a car bomb blew up near the Australian embassy in central Baghdad. The US military said the blast killed three Iraqis and wounded at least six.

Australian troops in Baghdad are engaged in diplomatic protection, not security operations. Australian Defence Force spokesman Brigadier Mike Hannan said in Canberra there were no diplomats travelling with the convoy when the bomb went off.

Australia was one of the first nations to join the US-led war in Iraq, sending about 2,000 troops, but it has since scaled down its force to about 920 in and around Iraq.

Although the country has been hit by bombings during Ramadan, the most cold blooded attack came on Sunday.

Militants loyal to al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi shot dead 49 unarmed Iraqi army recruits as they headed home for leave from a base in the northeast.

The mass killing dealt yet another blow to the interim government's efforts to build up local security forces to help US-led troops tackle insurgents before elections due in January.

However, the top UN elections expert in Iraq, Carlos Valenzuela, told Reuters credible polls could be held on time despite relentless bombings and kidnappings.

"The electoral commission is preparing on time," he said. "I think elections can be credible. It is a difficult situation but when you have a transitional election, by definition it is conducted in an environment that is less than ideal."

As violence raged, hundreds of Iraqis demanded the release of British-Iraqi hostage Margaret Hassan, saying she had touched many people with her humanitarian work.

Demonstrators, holding up banners and pictures of Ms Hassan outside the Care International office in Baghdad she directed, said Ms Hassan had spent years in Iraq helping the disabled.

"Freedom for Margaret," said one banner. "Please release Margaret Hassan who has helped us," read another. A group of armed men, including one in a police uniform, seized Ms Hassan on her way to work last Tuesday.

Iraq's US-backed interim government is struggling to contain violence carried out by Zarqawi and Iraqi insurgents. Zarqawi's group has renamed itself as the Iraqi arm of al Qaeda.

Efforts to pacify Falluja, Iraq's most rebellious town, appeared to have suffered a setback yesterday.

The chief negotiator for the town said the government had cancelled talks to avert a military assault there.

"I was told that the negotiations have been cancelled," Sheikh Khaled al-Jumaili told Al Jazeera.

But a Defence Ministry source later denied that talks had been cancelled and said they were ongoing.

Fighting continued in Iraq's Sunni Muslim central heartland, the epicentre of opposition to US troops and where it will be most difficult to vote.

Five civilians were killed during clashes between US forces and insurgents in the rebellious western city of Ramadi, hospital director Abdul Moneim Aftan said. He blamed their deaths on US snipers.