(AP)
Updated: 2007-09-11 11:25

BAGHDAD - The US military reported the deaths of nine soldiers Monday - including seven killed in a vehicle accident - and Iraq's prime minister said the nation's armed forces were not ready to fight without American help.

An Iraqi soldier inspects the wreckage after a car bomb attack near the Shiite Buratha mosque in northern Baghdad, Iraq on Monday, Sept. 10, 2007, killing two civilians and wounding six others. [AP]

The statements - more Pentagon death notices and appeals for more time from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki - echoed some of the key struggles in Washington as lawmakers began long-awaited hearings on US strategies in Iraq.

Among the core issues is whether Iraq's leadership is moving fast enough at political reconciliation and assuming security responsibilities while US troop deaths have risen to at least 3,772 in the 4 1/2-year war.

Al-Maliki told Iraq's parliament that the American military is still needed despite what he described as a sharp drop in violence in the Baghdad area since President Bush ordered nearly 30,000 extra troops to Iraq this year.

"We still need more efforts and time in order for our armed forces to be able to take over security in all Iraqi provinces from the multinational forces that helped us a great deal in fighting terrorism and outlaws," al-Maliki said just hours before US Ambassador Ryan Crocker and top commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, began their statements on Capitol Hill.

Petraeus said he envisions gradually scaling back the US troop strength in Iraq to about 130,00 by next summer - roughly the number before the US surge earlier this year.

In western Baghdad, seven US soldiers were killed in a vehicle accident that also claimed the lives of two detainees, the military said. Eleven soldiers from Multinational Division-Baghdad and one detainee were also injured in the west Baghdad accident, the military said without giving further details. The US statement made no mention of hostile fire and did not specify the neighborhood.

A US spokesman, Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl, said all the victims were traveling in the same vehicle.

Another US soldier was killed and two were injured when their vehicle overturned east of the capital, the military said in a statement. The military also said a soldier died Sunday of wounds suffered in fighting near Kirkuk in northern Iraq.

Al-Maliki, a Shiite, said violence had dropped 75 percent in the Baghdad area since stepped-up military operations began in the capital Feb. 14 - although he offered no detailed figures. He also said his government had kept the country from descending into all-out Sunni-Shiite civil war after the wave of sectarian bloodletting last year.

A tally of civilian deaths compiled by The Associated Press showed a less dramatic drop in the Baghdad area - from 1,148 in February to 669 in August. The overall level of civilian deaths around the country, however, remained relatively steady during the period as violence shifted to other regions, according to the AP figures, based on government, police and hospital records.

In his address to parliament, al-Maliki said his Cabinet had finalized a draft bill to allow thousands of former Saddam Hussein supporters to serve in government posts - a major demand of the Sunnis and one of the 18 benchmarks demanded by Washington.

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