PARIS, July 24: France said Thursday that the killing of Saddam Hussein’s two sons could spark an upsurge in anti-US violence in Iraq, and that cobbling together a multinational force without UN backing would not ensure security there.

“One can imagine that part of the Baath Party is going to mobilize to avenge Saddam’s two sons, and that resistance to the presence of coalition forces could intensify,” said French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin.

The minister’s comments to state-run France Inter radio came as three more US soldiers were killed in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul — the location of Tuesday’s gun battle that killed Saddam’s sons Uday and Qusay.

De Villepin also reiterated that Paris wanted the United Nations to be put in charge of a multinational force in the war-torn Gulf state.

“Patching up a system on the basis of what exists now, adding foreign forces to the coalition forces does not seem to us to be the best way to ensure Iraq’s security,” said de Villepin.—AFP