Deadliest day for US in Iraq

Thirty-one US troops died in a helicopter crash in Iraq and sixmore were killed in insurgent attacks yesterday in the deadliest day for American forces since they invaded the country 22 months ago.

Guerillas waging a bloody campaign to wreck Sunday's landmark elections also killed 10 Iraqis in a string of bombings and raids yesterday.

US President George W. Bush urged Iraqis to "defy the terrorists" and go to the polls.

A group led by al Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, which has been behind most of the worst attacks in the run-up to the ballot, warned voters to stay away from the "infidel election centres". It said they would have only themselves to blame for the consequences if they voted.

As American-led forces pressed their efforts to quell the raging insurgency and create the conditions for a credible poll, a US Marine transport helicopter went down in the desert of western Iraq. A military official said 31 Marines were killed.

The cause of the crash near the town of Rutba, close to Iraq's border with Jordan, was not immediately known, but there were signs that bad weather may have been a factor.

Mr Bush acknowledged the loss of life was "very discouraging" to the American people but appealed for understanding of US goals in the region. Mounting US deaths have increased public pressure for a clearer exit strategy from Iraq.

Four more US Marines were killed in action in the restive Anbar province of western Iraq, and an American soldier died in a rocket attack north of Baghdad, US officials said. Another soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad.

The latest surge of insurgent attacks appeared aimed at sowing fear even as the US-backed interim government vowed stringent measures to safeguard the election, Iraq's first since the fall of Saddam Hussein in April 2003.