26 October 2004	Tuesday	11 Ramazan 1425

BAGHDAD, Oct 25: A wave of explosions and clashes across Iraq left at least 12 people dead on Monday, including an Estonian soldier, while Australian troops came under fire in Baghdad.

The latest violence came as Iraqi officials said the perpetrators of the weekend slaughter of 49 newly-trained soldiers in eastern Iraq could have been tipped off from within the ranks.

Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has pledged to restore order, using force if necessary, with the help of the US-led military before elections promised by January.

Underscoring the challenge facing the government, attackers detonated a car laden with explosives as an Australian convoy drove down a residential district near Australia's embassy in Baghdad.

The blast, claimed by a group loyal to Al Qaeda-linked militant Abu Mussab al Zarqawi, killed three Iraqis and wounded at least 16 other people, including three Australian soldiers.

An Australian defence spokesman described the incident as the first direct attack on Australian vehicles in the country.

Militants lashed out at another US ally member in a roadside bombing against an Estonian convoy in western Baghdad that left one of Estonia's 45 soldiers in Iraq dead and five wounded.

They struck again in the northern city of Mosul in a double car bombing against the governor and other administrative targets that killed four people and wounded four others.

The attacks were another rude awakening for Iraqis after the weekend massacre of 49 new army recruits, who were gunned down execution-style in astern Iraq, and a twin suicide car bombing against Iraqi police and national guards that killed 20.

Desperate to crush the fighters, US and Iraqi forces have targeted the militants' strongholds in recent weeks, with their sights now set on the bastion of Fallujah that has been the target of near daily airstrikes.

Outgunned militarily, militants have turned to guerilla warfare, hitting the country's security forces, foreign workers and US-led troops in a relentless wave of bombings, kidnappings and beheadings.

The Zarqawi-linked Al Qaeda Group of Jihad in the Land of Two Rivers claimed responsibility for the slaughter of the unarmed Iraqi soldiers as well as the car bombing against the Australians.-AFP