Security gains in Iraq reversible: Pentagon

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Security continued to improve in Iraq from March to May with violence at its lowest level in four years, but the gains are "fragile, reversible and uneven," a quarterly Pentagon report said Monday.

Other government findings said conditions in the strife-torn nation remained volatile and that Iraqi units continued to rely heavily on US and coalition forces, as US military chief Michael Mullen warned that, while the situation has improved, there was still plenty of work in the battle against Iraqi insurgents.

"The security, political and economic trends in Iraq continue to be positive; however they remain fragile, reversible and uneven. Recent events in Basra, Sadr City and elsewhere have generated new challenges and opportunities for the future," the Pentagon report said.

"The security environment in Iraq continues to improve, with all major violence indicators reduced between 40 and 80 per cent from pre-surge levels," it said.

Another report published the same day by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) noted a drop in violence but stressed that "the security environment remains volatile and dangerous" and that "many unmet goals and challenges remain" from the security to the political fronts.

With the number of trained Iraqi forces rising to 478,000 from 323,000 from January 2007 to May 2008, "the number of Iraqi units capable of performing operations without US assistance has remained at about 10 percent," the GAO reported citing information from the Pentagon.

Meanwhile, two US soldiers, two American civilians, an Italian and six Iraqis were killed in a bomb attack on Tuesday on municipal offices in Baghdad's Shia bastion of Sadr City, officials said.

US embassy spokeswoman Mirembe Nantongo said the foreigners who were killed in the blast included two US nationals working for the State Department and the Department of Defence.

An Italian of Iraqi origin who was working for the Department of Defence was also killed in the attack, she added.

The US military confirmed that two of its soldiers were killed in the blast, while another one was wounded.

An Iraqi security official said six Iraqis were also killed in the attack while 10 others were wounded, including three members of the district council.

The latest deaths of US soldiers bring the overall losses of the military in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion to 4,106, according to an AFP tally based on independent website www.icasualties.org.