WASHINGTON, Nov 3: Key US newspapers said on Monday that the bloodiest day for US forces in Iraq had increased pressure on President George W. Bush to retain public support for the US occupation.

The New York Times said the downing of a Chinook helicopter on Sunday, which killed 16 US troops, was a “political challenge” for Bush.

It said the president now faces a fight “to keep public opinion from swinging against him over Iraq while not abandoning his quest to bring a stable democracy to that country.”

“Americans have been dying for months in Iraq attacked by an enemy whose nature remains murky,” it declared, adding that the downing of the Chinook near Baghdad “brought the insurgency to a new level and suggested its growing effectiveness.”

“New attacks intensify pressure on Bush,” was the headline on a Washington Post story.

Highlighting how the helicopter missile attack came soon after an attack on a Baghdad hotel used by US officials, the Post said it was an “escalation” that “may prove more significant strategically than tactically because of the increased political pressure it puts on the Bush administration.”

The Post said US public support for the president’s handling of the war is declining.

It added that some analysts now predict that the fighting combined with the beginning of the presidential primary season in three months “will intensify the administration’s desire to find a way to get out of Iraq.”—AFP