Iraqis celebrate on the burned out car of the seven Spanish intelligence agents killed in Iraq

BAGHDAD, November 30 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – In another blow for the U.S.-led occupation forces in Iraq, seven Spanish intelligence officers, two U.S. soldiers and two other Japanese diplomats were killed Saturday, November 29, in a spiral of attacks across the chaos-mired country.

The seven Spaniards were killed in a mortar and grenade attack on their convoy south of Baghdad, Spain's Defense Minister Federico Trillo confirmed the killings.

A British reporter who was among the first at the scene of the attack near Suwayrah, 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of Baghdad, said he saw Iraqi youths gathered around the bodies chanting praise for ousted leader Saddam Hussein, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

An eighth officer from Spain's CNI intelligence service was wounded in the ambush, Trillo said.

Spain has a 1,300 strong troop contingent in Iraq. Ten Spaniards have now been killed there since August.

Trillo held a crisis meeting in Madrid late Saturday and later revealed he would go to Baghdad to assess the situation and bring the victims' bodies home.

The intelligence officers were driving to Hilla, 100 kilometers (62 miles) south of Baghdad, when they were hit, a spokesman for the U.S.-led occupation said.

For many ordinary Spaniards the news has hardened their resolve that the country should never have become involved in the Iraq conflict, wrote the BBC News Online.

Opinion polls show the majority of Spaniards believe the Spanish peacekeepers in Iraq have no business to be there.

The nation has been holding its breath since 18 Italian soldiers were killed in Iraq earlier this month.

Japanese Diplomats Killed

"There is no change to our country's basic policy," Kawaguchi

Furthermore, two Japanese diplomats were killed and a third wounded as they stopped at a food stall en route to Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's birthplace, where an aid conference was taking place, a U.S. military spokesman said Sunday, November 30.

"Two Japanese were killed as they stopped at a roadside food stall, four kilometers (two and a half miles) south of Mukayshifa on the afternoon of November 29," said Colonel Bill MacDonald, spokesman for the US 4th Infantry Division, which patrols the troubled region.

"The three persons had stopped for food and drink when attackers fired small-caliber weapons at them.

"The three were taken to a Tikrit hospital. The condition of the wounded individual is unknown," said MacDonald, speaking shortly before the opening of the aid conference at the fortified 4th Infantry Division's headquarters compound in Tikrit, 180 kilometers (110 miles) north of Baghdad.

U.S. officials said the two diplomats did not have an American military escort.

"We did not have any of our forces traveling with that group of individuals," said Colonel James Hickey, who commands the 4th ID's 1st Brigade.

"That wasn't requested," he told journalists in Tikrit.

He said he did not know whether the group had a private security team with them.

Hickey said his troops were responsible for security in the area, but do not patrol it 24 hours a day.

"When we patrol that area, we do it at set times based on the understanding of enemy forces being in that area."

The two became the first Japanese to die in Iraq since the start of the U.S.-led war on March 20.

Japan's Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said Sunday it will "never give in" to terrorism, but stopped short of saying whether the attack would affect a plan to send troops to the war-torn country.

"We will never give in to terrorism," Kawaguchi told a news conference. "Our basic stance towards positively helping the reconstruction of Iraq will not be shaken."

"There is no change to our country's basic policy," she added.

Almost three quarters of Japanese are against sending troops to Iraq to help rebuild the war-torn country, according to a poll released on November 17.

U.S. Soldiers Killed

Meanwhile, two U.S. soldiers were killed and one wounded in Iraq when their convoy was ambushed with rocket-propelled grenade and small arms fire near the troubled town of Husayabah on the Syrian border, AFP reported Sunday, November 30, according to the U.S. military.

"The soldiers from the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment (3rd ACR) were ambushed on the main Euphrates valley highway east of the town on Saturday afternoon," said a statement from the regional command in the western town of Ramadi.

"Confirmed reports are that two U.S. soldiers were killed and one wounded. The wounded soldier was subsequently taken to a nearby field hospital.

"Quick Reaction Forces (QRF) responded to the engagement with Medevac helicopters. Elements from the 3rd ACR responded to the scene and a ground QRF moved from Haditha to the engagement to secure the area.

"Explosive Ordnance Disposal assets have moved to the scene and are clearing the area," said the statement dated Saturday but released Sunday.

Before the latest attacks, 98 occupation troops were said to have died in Iraq during November, according to a BBC count.

They included 79 U.S. troops, and 17 Italian soldiers.