US civilian worker killed in Iraq

US troops continue to be targeted by attackers

An American civilian contractor has been killed in Iraq after a bomb blew up under his lorry near Tikrit, home of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

The man was in a five-vehicle convoy travelling from Baghdad when it hit an "improvised device", military officials said.

He was rushed to a military field hospital at a nearby air base, but died later from his wounds.

The man - who has not yet been named - is reported to have been employed by Kellogg Brown & Root, a subsidiary of the Houston-based oil company Halliburton which has major reconstruction contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Tikrit lies in an area north and west of Baghdad known as the Sunni Triangle, where support for the deposed leader remains strong.

Also on Tuesday, US troops came under attack in the flashpoint town of Falluja.

At least two soldiers were reportedly injured when a rocket-propelled grenade hit a police station.

Following the attack, up to 200 Iraqis gathered to chant slogans in support of Saddam Hussein.

In another part of the town, a US military vehicle in a convoy of four was slightly damaged when a mine exploded on a bridge.

An eyewitness told French news agency AFP the soldiers got out of their vehicles and shot in the air. Two helicopters were then called in and the convoy went on its way.

At least 52 US soldiers have been killed by hostile fire since major combat operations ended on 1 May.

The Americans have meanwhile begun to train the first of 400 volunteers for the new Iraqi army, whose first task will be to guard vital installations and the country's borders.

The US plans to have more than 12,000 volunteers ready for service by the end of the year, and 40,000 by late 2004.

The volunteers were taken to a base near the northern town of Kirkuk on Monday, in heavily-protected convoys.