BAGHDAD, July 19: Another US soldier was killed in Iraq on Saturday as the violence showed no signs of abating and a UN report urged the US-led coalition to set out a timetable to end its occupation.

But the US military looked to present its achievements in three months of nation-building in Iraq as it reopened the Baghdad Zoo, shuttered since the war, and World Bank officials examined ways to breathe life into the country’s ailing economy.

A soldier was killed in a pre-dawn rocket-propelled grenade and small arms attack in a wealthy Baghdad neighbourhood, a military spokesman said.

He was the 35th US soldier to be killed in action since major a combat was declared on May 1, 2003. The attack followed the killing of another US soldier on Friday in an explosion targeting his light armoured vehicle near Fallujah.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell acknowledged that it would take some time to stem the “guerrilla-type” attacks, echoing similarly bleak assessments from US civil administrator Paul Bremer and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

With fears that the daily attacks prevent reconstruction work which in turn fuels Iraqi anger, Washington has hinted it may look to outside help.

As a Pentagon-commissioned study warned that a window of opportunity for the US-led occupation to harness Iraqi goodwill was rapidly closing, the United Nations said the coalition needed to provide a timeframe for introducing a sovereign government and leaving Iraq..—AFP