BAGHDAD, July 11: Three US soldiers and three Iraqis were wounded as assailants targeted US forces in Iraq with rocket-propelled grenades and mortars, military officers said on Friday.

In the United States and in Britain, controversy intensified over the arguments made by the two governments before the war to justify invading Iraq.

US forces in Iraq are facing between 10 and 25 attacks every day, according to the general who led the war that ousted Saddam Hussein, but officers denied Arabic media reports they had pulled out of one flashpoint town west of Baghdad.

Troops in Falluja pulled out of a police station and the mayor’s office but remained in the town, officers and witnesses said. US soldiers in armoured vehicles patrolled the town centre on Friday morning.

A religious leader at one of Falluja’s 46 mosques urged people to give US forces six months to finish their mission in the town.

“When this period is finished, the patience of Muslims will run out and jihad (holy struggle) will be declared,” Sheikh Abdullah Janabi told worshippers at Friday prayers.—Reuters