There are believed to be more than 20 foreign hostages still in Iraq, including citizens of Australia, Brazil, Egypt, Japan, Jordan, the Philippines, Turkey and the US. Many more Iraqis have been abducted.
In Washington, a senator warned the US will "have to face" a painful dilemma on restoring the military draft as the rising casualties result in persistent shortfalls in US army recruitment.
Joseph Biden, the top Democrat of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, made the prediction after new data released by the Pentagon showed the US army failing to meet its recruitment targets for four straight months.
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