Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

The U.S. Central Command says seven more U.S. soldiers have been wounded in Iraq, including three Army airborne troops hurt in a grenade attack near the northern city of Kirkuk.

Two other Americans were wounded Tuesday when unknown attackers dropped a home-made bomb from a bridge onto a passing military convoy in Baghdad. In a third incident also in the capital, authorities say two U.S. troops were wounded when their vehicle struck a land mine.

Coalition forces in Iraq have come under increasing attacks in recent weeks from assailants who are becoming bolder, firing at troops in daylight and disappearing into crowds or planting explosives.

Meanwhile, questions have arisen about a new audio tape on which someone said to be Saddam Hussein issues a broad appeal to expel U.S.-led forces from Iraq.

The al-Jazeera television network said the tape is new. But the Sydney, Australia Morning Herald newspaper said large portions of the new tape contained language identical to a tape aired by the newspaper on its web site in May. The newspaper said it will provide U.S. authorities with a copy of the latest tape for technical analysis.

On Monday, the White House conceded that President Bush was mistaken early this year, when he used a national address to claim that the ousted Iraqi regime had sought to buy uranium in Africa.

Mr. Bush made the claim in his State of the Union address in January, in reference to alleged Iraqi efforts to build weapons of mass destruction. A White House statement concedes that British intelligence underlying the president's claim was erroneous.

Earlier this year, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog body, dismissed British intelligence reports on the subject as being based on forged documents.

Some information for this report provided by AP.