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2 more US troops, 2 top judges killed in Iraq

Bush vows no retreat

AFP, REUTERS, Baghdad/ Mosul
Two more soldiers of the US-led coalition and three Iraqis were killed while gunmen shot dead two prominent Iraqi judges as Iraq plunged further into violence.
But despite the surge of violence and mounting military and civilian death toll and stiffening guerrilla resistance, President Bush vowed that the United States would not run from its "vital" mission in Iraq.
A coalition soldier was killed and another wounded when an explosive device blew up in Baghdad yesterday, a military spokeswoman said, adding that
the two were probably Americans.
If the soldier is confirmed to be American, the US combat toll will climb to 141 since May 1, when Washington declared major hostilities had ended.
The figures include the death on Monday of a soldier from the US 4th Infantry Division killed when an explosive device blew up in Tikrit, 180 km north of Baghdad, a hotbed of anti-US violence.
In Kirkuk, further north, a judge was shot dead by US forces who intended to ambush anti-coalition forces, according to police. The judge's cousin, who was driving the car, said he suffered bullet wounds.
The US president's comments were his first since 16 American soldiers were killed when guerrillas shot down their CH-47 Chinook helicopter on Sunday in the worst single attack since the US invasion.
"The enemy in Iraq believes America will run. That's why they're willing to kill innocent civilians, relief workers, coalition troops. America will never run," Bush said, despite falling approval ratings in the United States over the war.
"The mission in Iraq is vital," Bush added. But he did not refer to the downing of the helicopter or three other deaths which made
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Sunday the second worst day overall for the Americans of the conflict. At least 20 US soldiers were wounded.
Meanwhile, gunmen shot dead a prominent Iraqi judge outside his home in the northern city of Mosul on yesterday, a day after another judge was kidnapped and killed in the south of the country, police said.
A witness said a car with tinted windows suddenly pulled up outside the home of Ismail Youssef, a judge in Mosul's appeals court, at about 7:45 a.m. (12:45 a.m. EST) and men got out and shot him several times in the chest and side, police said.
The 60-year-old judge's family said they did not know why he had been attacked. Some judges with links to ousted president Saddam Hussein's Baath party were fired after the US-led war, but Youssef remained on the judge's bench.
"He was a good and honest man. He wasn't a member of any political party, " his brother-in-law Tarik Moussa said.
A lawyer who worked with Youssef said he had not been involved in investigations into former Baath party leaders.
On Monday, a senior judge in the southern city of Najaf was kidnapped and killed by what his deputy said were gunmen carrying out the orders of Saddam.
Aref Aziz said he was kidnapped along with Mohan Jaber al-Shoueili on Monday. Aziz said he was released after Shoueili was shot dead.
"The gunmen said they were carrying out a judgment from Saddam," Aziz told Reuters.
Police in Najaf, a holy Shi'ite city, said they were investigating the killing of Shoueili, who had been leading probes into several local officials who served under Saddam.
Iraq has suffered a surge in violence, with many attacks occurring in Baghdad and an area of western and northern Iraq where ousted president Saddam Hussein draws much support and opposition to the US-led occupying forces runs high.
But tension has also soared in
Karbala, which was the scene of fierce armed clashes between Shiite groups in mid-October.
Two Iraqis died there late Monday when a bomb exploded near the Baratha hotel behind Al-Mukhayam mosque, according to witness Ibrahim al-Juburi.
In mid-October supporters of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani clashed with backers of radical cleric Moqtada Sadr, preventing the latter from taking control of the city's Hussein and Abbas mausoleums. At least one person was killed.
Sadr has been vocal in denouncing the US-led occupation but in a surprising announcement this week, he urged US troops in the oil-rich country to unite with the Iraqi people to avoid more bloodshed.
"It is important to avoid spilling blood, aggression, wars and terrorism to sanctify the fraternity between the two peoples," said Sadr, who comes from a long line of revered clerics.
"The Iraqi people only want good for the Americans because the enemy of Iraq is only the destroyer, Saddam Hussein, and his loyalists, with whom we will have no tie until Judgement Day," the firebrand cleric said.
An increasing number of Iraqis have been caught in the crossfire as anti-US forces become bolder and better organized in their assaults.
In the northern oil province of Kirkuk a bomb exploded close to a police station Monday, a mortar shell exploded in a schoolyard and a truck carrying concrete security blocks for the coalition was set ablaze, police said.
On Monday night three mortars hit Baghdad, one landing at a US army facility. There were no casualties reported, the US-led coalition said.
On Tuesday, US troops were still searching for pieces of wreckage of a military helicopter that was shot down two days earlier, killing 16 soldiers, near the flashpoint town of Fallujah, west of Baghdad.
Eight Humvees were at the scene and two helicopters hovered overhead. "The cleaning up is still going on," a US soldier said.