Thousands of weapons the United States has provided Iraqi security forces are missing, according a new report to Congress.

The Pentagon cannot account for 14,030 weapons — 13,180 semiautomatic pistols, 751 assault rifles and 99 machine guns — almost four per cent of the semiautomatic pistols, assault rifles, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and other weapons it began supplying to Iraq since the end of 2003.

Many other weapons cannot be repaired because parts or technical manuals are lacking, the report stated.

It will be difficult to track the missing weapons as the Defence Department registered the serial numbers of only about three per cent of the approximately 370,000 weapons it provided.

The report comes as the U.S. military's death toll in Iraq for the month of October reached 101 on Monday, making it one of the deadliest months for American troops since the war began in March 2003.
 
November 2004 saw the greatest number of soldiers killed — 137. In April 2004, 135 died while 107 died in January 2005.

The latest two casualties were a member of the 89th Military Police Brigade, who was killed by small arms fire on Monday in eastern Baghdad, and a marine assigned to Regimental Combat Team 5 who died in combat Sunday in Anbar province, the U.S. military said.

Blast kills 80

Elsewhere, at least 80 people were killed in Iraq on Monday, including 33 who had gathered in Sadr City, a Baghdad suburb, hoping to land jobs as construction workers.

The rise in civilian casualties is deepening local political tensions.

On Sunday, Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, the country's ranking Sunni politician, threatened to resign if Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki did not move swiftly to eradicate militia groups.

Mohammed Shaker, a key aide to al-Hashemi, said the threat was intended to send a message to the government over the rising sectarian violence.

"We cannot live with this situation indefinitely," he said.

Sunni ally joins protest

He was joined Monday by a Sunni ally, Adnan al-Dulaimi, who threatened to withdraw the Iraqi Accordance Front from parliament and the cabinet unless security is improved.

"If current conditions continue, Iraq will be destroyed," al-Dulaimi said.

Al-Maliki relies on the backing of two Shia political organizations and has resisted U.S. pressure to eradicate their private armies — al-Sadr's Mahdi Army and the Badr Brigade.

The armies, especially the Mahdi Army, have been deeply involved in months of sectarian killings in Baghdad and central Iraq.

Both militias have infiltrated the mostly Shia security forces, who suffered about 300 deaths during Ramadan, mainly at the hands of Sunni insurgents.

 

With files from the Associated Press