6 U.S. Soldiers Killed in Iraq Attacks

A suicide attack and roadside bombings killed six American soldiers, and Iraq's prime minister warned residents of insurgent bastion Fallujah on Wednesday to hand over terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi or face military action.  Al-Zarqawi's Tawhid and Jihad group has claimed responsibility for beheading several foreign hostages and for car bombings throughout the country, and a videotape posted Wednesday on an Islamic Web site showed militants linked to al-Zarqawi beheading two Iraqis they accused of being intelligence officers. The attacks, at a time when U.S. forces are putting pressure on insurgent strongholds in the Sunni heartland, occurred in the run-up to the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which Iraqi television said would begin here Friday.  Iraq's deteriorating security, including bombings, mortar and rocket attacks, kidnappings and shootings, has slowed reconstruction efforts and forced the United States to divert funds from rebuilding to security. Pictured above: A U.S. Humvee vehicle burns following a suicide attack in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, October 13, 2004. A suicide car bomber blew up his vehicle next to a U.S. military convoy, damaging at least one Humvee and wounding three soldiers, a military spokesman said. [more ]