BAGHDAD, June 19: US troops again came under fire near Baghdad on Thursday, with one soldier killed in a rocket attack, overshadowing the ongoing sweep in search of those still loyal to Saddam Hussein.

One army medic was killed and two others were injured when their military ambulance was attacked with a rocket-propelled grenade south of Baghdad, a US military spokeswoman said.

A spokeswoman she was unable to confirm witness reports of what was apparently a separate rocket attack in Baghdad’s southern fringes, where a large military vehicle was seen ablaze.

It was unclear if the vehicle was that involved in the attack confirmed by the US military, which US officials said occurred around 35 kilometres further south.

Iraqi police at the site where US officials said the incident took place, said they knew nothing of a rocket attack in the area.

The latest attack came amid flaring anger in the capital over the slow return of basic services, with former soldiers warning they are ready to take up arms against the city’s US occupiers if a dispute with the US administration is not settled by Monday.

The former soldiers are demanding that the top US civil administrator, Paul Bremer, either pays them wages owed to them since the army was disbanded last month, or gives them their jobs back. —AFP