Iraq?s interim prime minister has vowed to crush Baathist die-hards and foreign militants he blamed for killing 100 people in a day of suicide bombings and attacks meant to sabotage next week?s move towards Iraqi rule.

«These are isolated incidents,» said Iyad Allawi. «We are going to defeat them...We have been expecting this escalation and we are expecting more escalation in the days ahead.»

Three US soldiers were among those killed in Thursday?s bold assaults on Iraqi security forces in Baghdad and the mainly Sunni Muslim cities of Baquba, Falluja and Ramadi.

Iraq?s third largest city Mosul was the worst hit, with four suicide bombings killing 62 people, including a US soldier, and wounding 220, a senior military official said.

He said the attacks showed signs of loose coordination between groups intent on destabilising Iraq and warned of more bloodshed before and after the June 30 handover, when US-led occupation formally ends and Allawi?s government takes over.

Allawi told reporters late on Thursday he believed Ansar al-Islam, a group linked to Jordanian militant Abu Musab Zarqawi, was behind the Mosul bombings.

He blamed Baathists loyal to deposed dictator Saddam Hussein for the attacks in Ramadi and Baquba.

A group led by Zarqawi, who Washington says has links to Osama bin Laden?s al Qaeda network, claimed responsibility for the attacks in a statement on an Islamist Web site.

«Your brothers in Jama?at al-Tawhid and Jihad launched a wide assault in several governorates in the country which included strikes against the apostate police agents and spies and the Iraq army, alongside their American brothers,» it said.

Zarqawi, whose group has claimed responsibility for the beheadings of an American and a South Korean hostage in Iraq, threatened on Wednesday to assassinate Allawi.

A CIA official in Washington said on Thursday the voice on the audiotaped message was probably Zarqawi?s.

Some of the black-clad gunmen who attacked police and government buildings in Baquba proclaimed loyalty to Zarqawi and wore yellow headbands linking them to his group.

It appeared to be the first time members of Zarqawi?s underground network had surfaced in street combat.

ROBUST APPROACH PROMISED

Iraq?s national security adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie said Iraqi officials have good intelligence on Zarqawi.

«We will adopt a pre-emptive strike against these people,» he told ABC television. «We will not wait for them to come to Baghdad to do these massacres against our civilian people.»

The violence sweeping Sunni cities did not extend to regions dominated by Iraq?s Shi?ite majority.

The Mehdi Army militia of radical Shi?ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr declared a unilateral ceasefire on Thursday in a Baghdad slum ? its last holdout against US troops.

«The Mehdi Army wants the security situation to stabilise and does not want those who are bent on causing chaos in the run-up to the power transfer to succeed,» a statement said.

Sadr, apparently keen to enter mainstream politics, has already withdrawn his forces from the holy Shi?ite cities of Najaf and Kerbala under pressure from moderate Shi?ite leaders.

Allawi?s interim government is to run Iraq only until planned elections in January. A multinational force of more than 160,000 mostly US troops will stay to support fledgling Iraqi security forces already under fire from insurgents.

Amid the violence and questions about the justification for the Iraq war, most Americans now say the US-led invasion was a mistake, according to a new USA Today?CNN? Gallup Poll.

It showed 54 per cent thought the invasion had been a mistake, compared with 41 percent who held that view three weeks ago. Fifty-five percent said the war had made the United States less safe from terrorism, compared to a December poll in which 56 per cent said it had made the United States safer.

The war?s original justification was to destroy Iraq?s alleged weapons of mass destruction. None has been found.

US President George W. Bush also said the invasion would bring democracy to Iraq and transform the Middle East, but Britain?s former envoy to Iraq said this was unrealistic.

«There is never going to be a Western-style democracy in Iraq,» Sir Jeremy Greenstock said in London. «Democracy comes quite a long way after the restoration of a decent life.»

Greenstock, who left Iraq in March, said the priorities for most Iraqis were security, jobs and a return to normal life.

Saddam?s prison letter heavily censored

• Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein says his spirit and morale are high and asks relatives to «say hello to everyone» in the only message he has sent to his family since his capture last December, Newsweek magazine reported on Tuesday.

The message addressed «to my daughter» was delivered to Saddam?s eldest daughter, in Amman, Jordan, after representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross visited him on February 21, Newsweek said, citing one of 20 lawyers retained by the family.

The heavily censored letter was shown to Newsweek by one of the lawyers, Muhammed al Rushadan, according to an article posted on the magazine?s Web site.

The letter, apparently in Saddam?s handwriting, reads in part: «In the name of God the Merciful ... To my small family and my big family, salaam alekum. ... As for my spirit and my morale, they are high, thanks to greatness of God. And say hello to everyone,» the report said.

US military authorities censored nine of the 14 lines written on a standard «family message form» provided by the ICRC, Newsweek said.

«Two-thirds of it are blacked out,» Rushadan was quoted as saying. «There are only 17 words you can read, there?s not enough to understand the meaning very well.»

Rushadan also produced what the ICRC calls a «capture card.» It was apparently signed by Saddam and dated January 21. The card lists Saddam?s occupation as «President of the Republic of Iraq» and his rank as «Field Marshal.» It noted he was in «good health» and «slightly wounded.» Newsweek said it was uncertain whether the card was filled out by Saddam or whether it was an independent assessment of his condition.

The lawyer claims the former Iraqi leader?s human rights are being violated, but offered no evidence to back up his assertion, Newsweek said. US military authorities have said Saddam is being treated humanely.

The form provides no details on where Saddam is being held. Nor does it indicate whether he is being held as a prisoner of war or security detainee or a common prisoner.