BAGHDAD, March 29 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Baghdad said Saturday, March 29, a suicide bomber who killed U.S. troops in central Iraq was seeking to teach the Americans a "lesson" and warned of more such attacks to come.

A non-commissioned officer, Ali Jaafar Musa Hammadi al-Numani, wanted to "teach the invaders a lesson in the same manner of our Palestinian martyrdom fighters" who have carried out suicide attacks against Israel, state television said.

"This is a blessed start. The enemies will face steadfastness, courage and martyrdom's souls," it warned.

The television said the attack near the Muslim holy city of Najaf left 5 U.S. troops dead, "a great number of others killed, two armoured personnel carriers destroyed and two tanks damaged."

The United States said four of its soldiers were killed.

Describing the attack, the television said that "after kissing the holy Koran" he "drove a booby-trapped car toward enemy tanks and armoured personnel at the outskirts of Najaf."

"He turned himself, his car and the explosives that he is carrying into a destruction missile by exploding himself at 10:15 am (0715 GMT) today," it said.

President Saddam Hussein decided to award the "martyrdom fighter" two top posthumous medals of honor, including the decoration of Umm al-Maarik, or the Mothers of All Battles, as Baghdad calls the 1991 Gulf war, the report said.

Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan later said: "This is only a beginning and you will hear good news in the coming days. We will use any means to stop the enemy and kill the enemy.

"The whole Iraqi people, including its women, will transform themselves into fedayeen (martyrdom fighters)," he vowed in a press conference in Baghdad.

He refused to say whether Numani had received orders from his superiors to carry out the suicide operation, saying: "Anybody who carries out a martyrdom operation does not need orders."

The attack was directed against members of the US 3rd Army Division massing around Najaf, a city about 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of Baghdad, for a decisive push toward the capital.

U.S. military sources earlier told Agence France-Presse that the driver of a taxi detonated a bomb at a roadblock north of the Iraqi city.

"A taxicab drove up to the checkpoint and the driver waved his hand, indicating he needed some help. Five of the soldiers, from the Third Infantry Division, moved toward the car," U.S. Captain Andrew Valles said.

"Two trained their rifles on the rear of the vehicle, two on the front and the fifth approached the driver's side…As they approached the car ... he set off the bomb," he added.

A military spokeswoman at U.S. forward command headquarters in Doha, Qatar, confirmed the car bombing but provided no casualty figures.

"We can confirm there was a car bomb explosion at a U.S. checkpoint in Iraq early this morning outside Najaf," Major Randi Steffy said.

An American soldier is lifted to receive medical treatment after being wounded during a military operation

In his weekly radio address, U.S. President George W. Bush said Saturday fighting in Iraq is "fierce."

"The fighting is fierce and we do not know its duration, yet we know the outcome of this battle: the Iraqi regime will be disarmed and removed from power. Iraq will be free," he said.

But he claimed that the U.S.-led occupation forces were steadily advancing towards Baghdad, noting that the Iraqi regime was controlling a "small portion of that country."

"Thanks to our fighting forces, the regime that once terrorized all of Iraq now controls a small portion of that country. American and coalition troops have continued a steady advance, and are now less than 50 miles (75 kilometres) from Baghdad," he alleged.

Reports said Saturday that severe shortage in logistics and stiff Iraqi resistance forced the U.S.-led occupation forces to pause their march towards Baghdad for four or six days.