Iraq violence kills 11 US troops

Insurgent attacks in Iraq have intensified since the election

Eleven US troops were killed in a series of attacks throughout Iraq on Thursday, the US military has said.

The number of American fatalities was the highest in a single day since the same number were killed on 1 December.

In a wave of violence, two suicide bombers killed more than 120 people in the central Iraqi cities of Karbala and Ramadi on Thursday.

The deaths came just one day after US President George Bush said the US plan in Iraq was succeeding.

President Bush said the US would aim to put more Iraqi territory under the control of Iraqi security forces during 2006 if Iraqis made good progress.

But he refused to outline a timetable for withdrawal, saying conditions on the ground, not pressure from political opponents, would inform decisions.

Wave of violence

Five US soldiers were killed when a roadside bomb exploded near their patrol south of Karbala.

Another roadside bomb struck a US army vehicle north of Baghdad and killed two soldiers.

Elsewhere, two marines were shot dead by gunmen while conducting combat operations in the central Iraqi town of Falluja.

The suicide bomb attack on a police recruitment centre in Ramadi killed one marine and one soldier. The explosion killed around 60 people queuing outside the centre and injured some 60 others.

But no US troops were killed by the blast near the Imam Hussein shrine in Karbala that killed at least 60 people and injuring more than 100.

The latest deaths took the number of US military fatalities to 2,192, according to figures from the Pentagon.