More cracks in US-led coalition in Iraq

"Al-Qaeda's lions, who are experienced in destroying the seats of Russian leaders and are in Iraq to encounter their enemies, planned and carried out this operation," said Abu Mohammad al-Ablaj, in charge of al-Qaeda training.

The claim, in an e-mail to the Saudi-owned, London-based Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, referred to the bombing of Baghdad's Mount Lebanon Hotel Wednesday night.

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The US-installed Iraqi Governing Council also said al-Qaeda was responsible.

Also Thursday, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan told Iraqis he would send his top envoy back to the country as soon as possible to help set up an interim government and prepare for new elections.

The promise was in response to a request from the governing council earlier Thursday for a quick "re-engagement" of the world body in the war-battered country's transition to sovereignty, set for June 30.

On Thursday, a bomb outside a hotel in the southern port of Basra killed two people.

A mob beat a man to death in the aftermath, as insurgents sowed terror as the March 20 anniversary of the US-led invasion draws near.

US President George W. Bush, at a military base in the southern state of Kentucky, told US troops who had served in Iraq, "The world is better off and the American people are more secure."

South Korea said it had cancelled plans to send troops to northern Iraq because of security concerns and was considering deploying them to other areas in the war-torn country.