The US military death toll in Iraq for October climbed to 100 yesterday, a week before US elections in which President George W. Bush's Republicans could lose control of Congress over his policies in Iraq.

A bomb blast killed 33 people and wounded 60 yesterday in a square in the Shi'ite Muslim Sadr City district in Baghdad where labourers were gathering to wait for job offers, Interior Ministry sources said.

The US military said a Marine was killed in combat in western Anbar province on Sunday, bringing the death toll for the month to 100. October was already the deadliest month since January 2005 when 107 US troops were killed. The highest monthly toll was in November 2004 when 137 deaths were recorded.

Since the March 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein, a total of 2,813 US troops have been killed.

Opinion polls show growing numbers of US voters want to see the 140,000 US troops in Iraq starting to come home.

Bush's Republican Party faces possible loss of control of Congress in November 7 elections, with opinion polls showing dismay over his policy on Iraq could be a critical factor in voter intentions.

Yesterday's bombing in Baghdad occurred as Shi'ite labourers were lining up for day jobs in a square in Sadr City, a stronghold of radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who heads the powerful Mehdi Army militia.

The blast tore through food stalls and shops. Scattered clothes and twisted metal lay amid debris and pools of blood.

"They were poor labourers bringing a daily living to their family. Let's have Maliki hear that," an angry witness said.

There were conflicting reports as to whether the blast was caused by a bomb hidden inside a garbage can or by a mortar.

Sunni Arab insurgents battling US forces and the Shi'ite-led government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki have in the past struck Sadr City with bombs and mortar shells.

Maliki and his US backers have been struggling to bring stability to Iraq more than three years after the US-led invasion. Sectarian violence kills about 100 people a day and political wrangling is hampering reforms.

Maliki and Bush agreed at the weekend to accelerate efforts to build up Iraqi security forces after days of public tension between the two leaders.

Bush, aiming to calm an increasingly impatient America over the war in Iraq, reminded Maliki last week that his patience was "not unlimited" and his support for the prime minister conditional on him making "tough decisions."

Source: China Daily