US Marines killed at least 40 people in an attack on a mosque in central Fallujah on Wednesday as violence spread from the Sunni town of Fallujah to Shiite cities south of the capital city of Baghdad.       

Siege on mosque by US troops     

The fighting erupted when a rocket-propelled grenade fired from the mosque hit a US military vehicle Wednesday, US Lt. Col. Brennan Byrne said.

US Marines fired a rocket and dropped a 225-kg, laser-guided bomb on the mosque. Part of a wall surrounding the mosque was destroyed, witnesses said.

The US military gave different figures of the causalities. US Marine Corps spokesman Eric Knapp said the US troops had killed more than 30 suspected insurgents and captured 51 since Tuesday night.

However, due to the fact that the wounded were rushed to makeshift clinics in private homes and mosques, the exact number of the dead and wounded was still unclear.

During fighting elsewhere in Fallujah, US forces seized another mosque, witnesses said.

Insurgents also blew up two highway overpasses into the city to prevent US troops from using them. A helicopter bombed three houses, wounding at least five people, including a boy.

Byrne said the US Marines had control of about a quarter of Fallujah on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, violence between coalition troops and Iraqis spread to other cities in Iraq.

l         In the northern city of Kirkuk, eight Iraqis were killed and10 wounded in clashes with American forces when protesting against the siege in Fallujah.

l         Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's fighters battled American troops in the town of Baqouba, northeast of Baghdad, hitting a US helicopter with small arms fire.

l         Shiite gunman drove Ukrainian forces out of the southern city of Kut, raising concerns over the ability of the US allies to contain radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's uprising.

l         In Karbala, militiamen exchanged fire with Polish troops, killing two Iranian tourists, witnesses said. An aide to Muqtada al-Sadr was also killed.

l         Three explosions were heard late Wednesday near the Samawah camp where Japanese troops are based, a Japanese defense spokesman said. No casualties were reported.

l         Militiamen battled Spanish soldiers in Najaf and a taxi driver was killed, a hospital official said.     

Rumsfeld admits serious problem in Iraq     

US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said in Washington on Wednesday that US troops are facing a "serious problem" in Iraq as they try to quell armed uprisings there against the coalition.

The defense chief told reporters US troops due to leave Iraq would remain in the volatile country to stamp out a spate of uprisings and attacks against American forces.

"Because we are in the midst of a major troop rotation, we have a planned increase in the number of US troops in the Centcom (US Central Command) area of responsibility and indeed, in Iraq," Rumsfeld said.

There are about 135,000 US troops in Iraq because of the rotations. The figure is due to fall to about 115,000 as the planned rotations continue, according to defense officials.

Rumsfeld said coalition forces had decided to stay away from Najaf because of an upcoming Muslim pilgrimage to the city and because of al-Sadr's militia forces, who have been fighting US troops since the weekend.

On the same day, US Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry called the situation in Iraq "a mess" and a great failure of diplomacy and judgment by the Bush administration.

"They're doing it in such a frankly inept way," he said in an interview with the Cable News Network. "The president needs to step up and acknowledge that there are difficulties and that the world needs to be involved, and they need to reverse their policy."

Analysts believe that US forces now are fighting a two-front battle with both Sunni and Shiite rebels, which used to stand by in the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq. Meanwhile, the Shiite uprising is transforming America's allies from peacekeepers into warriors, a role few of them wanted.

(Xinhua News Agency April 8, 2004)