7:58pm UK, Sunday November 30, 2003

Fifteen people have been killed in Iraq in a little over 24 hours as the Coalition suffers its bloodiest month since the end of the war.

Two US soldiers, seven members of a Spanish intelligence team, two Japanese nationals and their driver were killed in three separate incidents this weekend.

A body of a Japanese diplomat is taken away

A Colombian contractor was also shot dead near Balad and in the latest incident two South Korean civilian workers gunned down in an ambush on Sunday.

The deaths take the total number of casualties for the month to 114.

The two US soldiers were killed when guerrillas ambushed their convoy in western Iraq near the border with Syria.

The Japanese were diplomats attending a conference on reconstructing Iraq.

They were shot as they stopped to buy food and drinks on the road between Baghdad and Tikrit.

One of them was Katsuhiko Oku, 45, from the Japanese Embassy in London.

Japan has pledged to send troops to help rebuild Iraq, despite overwhelming public opposition, but only when the security situation permits.

A "furious" Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi vowed not to be blown off course by the deaths - the first of Japanese in Iraq since US-led forces invaded in March.

"We will firmly carry out our responsibilities for humanitarian aid and reconstruction (in Iraq). There is no change in this, he said. 

The eight-man Spanish team was returning from a mission when they were ambushed. Another member from Spain's National Intelligence Centre escaped.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar insisted that Madrid would not be deterred from its role in post-war Iraq despite the killings.

It continues to back the Coalition effort and has sent 1,300 soldiers to help maintain order.

Coffins carrying the dead arrived in Madrid on Sunday afternoon.

Sky News correspondent David Bowden was first on the scene of the attack.

Eyewitnesses told him a roadside bomb destroyed two of the three cars in the convoy.

"We were actually driving from Hillah and we saw these men lying by the side of the road after the ambush," he said.

"Locals said that 30 minutes earlier the convoy had been attacked."

The Sky team was forced to leave after the crowd turned on them."We filmed for a couple of minutes but the crowd were shouting 'Praise to Saddam', so we left. They were banging on the side of our vehicle as we sped off."