BAGHDAD, July 10: One US soldier was shot dead and another was killed in a rocket-propelled grenade attack in Iraq, the US military said on Thursday, as President George Bush acknowledged Washington had a “security issue” here.

The deaths raised to 31 the number of US soldiers killed by hostile fire in Iraq since May 1.

“There’s no question we’ve got a security issue in Iraq,” Mr Bush told reporters in Botswana, the latest stop in a visit to Africa. “We’re going to have to deal with it person-by-person. We’re going to have to remain tough.”

The US military said one soldier was killed when his convoy came under small arms fire near Al Mahmudiyah, about 40km south of Baghdad, on Wednesday.

Around four hours later, assailants fired rocket-propelled grenades at a convoy north of Baghdad, killing a soldier from the US army’s Fourth Infantry Division and wounding another, US Central Command said in a statement.

SADDAM LOYALISTS BLAMED: US officials have blamed isolated remnants of Saddam’s security forces for the attacks on their troops, which continue on a daily basis despite his downfall.