US army chief gloomy over Iraq's short-term future

The commander in charge of the war in Iraq has confessed that the struggle to stabilise Iraq may get harder before it gets easier and runs the risk of higher US and Iraqi casualties.

US army general David Petraeus's assessment came the day after the House of Representatives pushed through legislation calling for American troops to start withdrawing from Iraq by October 1.

President George W. Bush has pledged to veto the bill, passed by the Senate, and Petraeus said sectarian violence in Iraq is likely to rise if his troops pulled back from securing Baghdad this autumn.

"My sense is that there would be an increase in sectarian violence, a resumption of sectarian violence, were the presence of our forces and Iraqi forces, at that time, to be reduced," said Petraeus at the Pentagon.

He stressed that the new effort to curb violence with more troops, ordered by Bush in January, meant going into neighbourhoods where extremists had been able to operate freely.

"Because we are operating in new areas and challenging elements in those areas, this effort may get harder before it gets easier," said Petraeus, who briefed Bush and members of Congress on the war during his visit to Washington.

He added: "I think there is the very real possibility that there's going to be more combat action and that, therefore, there could be more casualties".

With four days still to go, April has already been the deadliest month this year for US forces in Iraq. According to the independent icasualties.org webite, 87 US troops have been killed this month.

Petraeus, who has served in the US military for more than 30 years, described the situation in Iraq as "the most complex and challenging I have ever seen" and "very tough."

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