Washington - US troops will be protected under a new agreement with Iraq on the future US presence in the country, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Friday.

Gates said members of Congress had reacted "positively" to the Iraq forces deal, which reached tentative agreement between US and Iraqi negotiators on Wednesday but still has to be approved by the legislatures of both countries.

Baghdad - Opposition grew on Friday among Iraqi religious leaders about a draft agreement worked out between the US and Iraqi governments on the status of US forces in Iraq.

"The Shiite clergy is very worried about this security agreement with the USA," said Imam Sadr Eddin al-Qabanji, a confidant of Shiite Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, speaking before a crowd of hundreds in Najaf.

Ankara - Turkish warplanes on Friday bombed suspected Kurdish separatist positions in the Kandil mountains of northern Iraq, near the Iraqi border with Iran, the Turkish military announced.

"Our planes returned safely to their bases after successfully completing their missions during Friday's daylight hours," the General Staff said in a short statement on its official website.

The statement said that the target of operations were Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) positions and that necessary precautions were taken to avoid harming civilians in the area.

Geneva - Iraqis remain the largest group of people seeking asylum in the world's industrialized nations in the first half of 2008, though the overall number is dropping as the situation in Iraq stabilizes, reported the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Overall, the first six months of 2008 registered 165,100 requests for asylum, a 3 per cent increase versus the same time period for 2007, reported the agency in a report released Friday. Figures also showed a 9 per cent increase for 2007 over 2006.

Baghdad - Opposition was growing Friday among Iraqi religious leaders about a draft agreement worked out between the US and Iraqi governments on the status of US forces in Iraq.

"The Shiite clergy is very worried about this security agreement with the USA," said Imam Sadr Eddin al-Qzbangi, a confidant of Shiite Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, speaking before a crowd of hundreds in Najaf.

Meanwhile, a Sunni council of religious leaders issued a fatwa, explaining why the agreement must be rejected. Supporters of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr also voiced opposition to the proposal.

Baghdad - Iraqi forces Friday discovered a cache of explosives in a mosque south of Baghdad, an army source said.

The find was made when forces raided Adullah al-Gaboury mosque in al-Askanderia district, 60 kilometres south of Baghdad, the source told Deutsche Presse-Agentur, dpa. The explosives were removed and eight suspects were later arrested in the area.

Two brothers aged 14 and 17 were meanwhile found stabbed to death in Diwaniyah province in what appeared to have been an act of clan revenge, a police official told the Voices of Iraq