IRAQ - Pullout Preparations; Salafis Use More Powerful Bombs.

A joint commission set up to discuss the eventual pullout of US-led troops from Iraq met for the first time on Aug. 2, even as Salafi insurgents escalated deadly attacks aimed at Iraqi and US forces. The commission issued a statement after the initial talks on establishing conditions for the transition which said the handover would be gradual but with no "rigid timelines".

More than 1,825 US military personnel have been killed in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion.

Brig. Gen. Carter Ham of the US Joint Staff on Aug. 4 said Salafi insurgents were now using more powerful, armour penetrating bombs in attacks like those which killed 21 US Marines and an Iraqi interpreter in the west Iraqi town of Haditha on Aug. 1-3. Ham said insurgents had adapted to increased armour protection on US military vehicles by changing techniques and building more lethal bombs, adding: "We are seeing larger amounts of explosives...different techniques...to counter the efforts of coalition and Iraqi security forces to protect folks while they are moving - different types of penetrators, different techniques of triggering the events. I mean...this is a...brutal, lethal and adaptive enemy".

The 14 Marines killed in an Aug. 3 attack were in an amphibious assault vehicle, which carries less armour than a tank. They were in the same area where six Marine snipers were killed on Aug. 1. In that attack, the Marines were dismounted, apparently moving on foot through Haditha, when they were killed. One of their bodies was found some distance away. Ham said: "This was a unit that was properly prepared...for their operation. They came under attack and, as we know today, the six US Marines were killed in that attack". He denied rumours that the Marines were betrayed by Iraqi forces. Jaysh Ansar al-Sunna, a Salafi group linked to al-Qaeda, claimed in an internet statement that its forces on Aug. 1 killed eight Marines and captured a ninth in Haditha.

Ham said US forces had simultaneous operations in towns along the Euphrates river valley. These were used to funnel Salafi volunteers and weapons into Baghdad from the Syrian border. US commanders were concerned about the insurgent presence in the area and brought in more troops for the operation. Ham said the simultaneous operations disrupted the insurgents' ability to move.

A US military spokesman on Aug. 4 said the number of American troops killed in western Iraq had reached 28. But he US commanders saw no reason to change their overall approach to the counter-insurgency battle. Brig. Gen. Donald Alston denied that Haditha was becoming "another Falluja". A roadside bomb late on Aug. 3 killed three US soldiers in Baghdad. A Marine was killed the same day by small arms fire in Ramadi.

Both sides in the two-year-old guerrilla war were constantly adapting their practices to gain the advantage, Gen Alston said, adding: "We're never static when it comes to protecting our forces".

The deadly attacks in and around Haditha raised questions about whether these lightly protected shock troops were adequately equipped for the protracted battle which has unfolded in the Euphrates valley since May. While the destroyed Marine vehicle was lighter than the Bradley infantry carriers in use with the US army, its armour exceeded the minimum protection previously allowed on US combat vehicles. Higher armour standards for all US combat vehicles this year reflected a high-level decision "to respond to this threat posed by the terrorists", Gen Alson said. "Naturally, in response, the terrorists try to adapt".

Shaped Salafi charges can direct the force of a blast to maximise its effect. Some of the devices used most recently in western Iraq are reportedly of a type previously used by Hizbollah, the Iran-backed Shiite guerrilla organisation active against Israel from south Lebanon.