A powerful bomb, apparently hidden in an abandoned vehicle, blasted a truck in a US supply convoy west of Baghdad Wednesday, killing a soldier who was hurled from his vehicle and wounding two others, soldiers at the scene said.

The explosion occurred as the 20-vehicle military convoy was passing a wrecked truck on the side of the road, Spc. Jose Colon told The Associated Press. Soldiers believe a bomb was hidden in the wreckage and remotely detonated as the convoy passed.

Sgt. Diego Baez, who was in the US truck that took the brunt of the blast, wept as he described the dead soldier.

"We slept next to each other just last night. He was my best friend," said Baez, who was uninjured..

US soldiers have come under increasingly ferocious attacks by suspected Saddam Hussein loyalists in recent weeks.

The soldier, who was not immediately identified, was the 33rd to die in hostile action since President Bush declared an end to major hostilities on May 1.

A half hour after the blast, the truck was still burning on the road near Abu Ghraib, just west of Baghdad, site of Saddam's most notorious prison. The convoy, made up of reservists from a supply unit based in Puerto Rico, was heading on the main highway to a US base near the Jordanian border.

"We need more protection. We've seen enough. We've stayed in Iraq long enough," said Spc. Carlos McKenzie, a member of the convoy.

After the explosion, soldiers began house-to-house searches in nearby villages. A resident, Mohammed al-Qazi, said the bombing was the work of men from the tense cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, farther down the road. "It was not people from Abu Ghraib," he said.

Those cities are part of the so-called "Sunni Triangle," a region west and north of Baghdad where Saddam drew his strongest support and where Americans have come under the most attack since his fall.

Soldiers said the slain soldier had recently arrived in Iraq after being stationed in Kuwait. A US military spokesman in Baghdad said he had no immediate information about the incident.

"We just lost one of our buddies. It could have been any of us," said Spc. Adalberto Bonilla, who along with Colon had been in a vehicle behind the most badly damaged truck. Both he and Colon were unharmed.

Also Wednesday, a US Marine died in the southern city of Hilla when he fell off a building he was guarding, the military said. The soldier was rushed to a hospital but died of his injuries.

The deaths highlighted the long and painful road left for coalition forces as they try to stabilize Iraq while soldiers come under attack an average 12 times a day.

On Tuesday, the American administrator of Iraq linked the length of the US occupation to Iraq's political process, saying that American forces would remain in the country until Iraqis agree on a new constitution and set up a democratic government.

"We have no desire to stay a day longer than necessary," L. Paul Bremer said. "The timing of how long the coalition stays here is now in the hands of the Iraqi people."

The new Governing Council — Iraq's first postwar national body — was meeting again Wednesday to discuss security and education matters, said Nouri al-Badran, spokesman for the Iraqi National Accord, which holds several seats on the council. On Tuesday, it decided to set up special courts to try former members of Saddam Hussein's regime who are accused of involvement in mass executions, torture and other human rights violations.

The Governing Council, whose members were selected rather than elected, is meant to be the forerunner to a 200-250 member constitutional assembly that would start drafting a constitution in September. That is expected to take nine months to a year and free elections to pick a government are expected to follow.

But even talk of removing coalition soldiers from Iraq seemed premature while guerrilla-style attacks against US forces are increasing and many major countries are balking at the idea of sending peacekeepers to replace exhausted American troops.

Many American soldiers thought they'd be home this summer, but their hopes were dashed in a US Army e-mail to spouses Sunday.

"I'm tired of going to bed wondering if I'm going to wake up in the morning," said Spc. David Myers Jr. of the 3rd Infantry Division's 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment in Habaniyah, west of Baghdad.

Late Tuesday, the US Central Command said in a news release that it still intended to remove 3rd Infantry soldiers "by September, pending international or US replacement units. As always, the security situation could affect deployments and redeployments."

Bremer repeated the charge that hard-core Baathists, former members of the Fedayeen Saddam militia and the intelligence services were behind the attacks.

Nevertheless, the increasing frequency and sophistication of the attacks — and growing doubts about the basis for the war — have contributed to the decision by some countries not to contribute troops.

On Tuesday, France ruled out sending troops, following India and Germany in rejecting US calls for help without approval from the United Nations.

The Bush administration has scored some success in recruiting other countries to help patrol Iraq. Poland will contribute 2,300 soldiers to a brigade that will also include units from Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Lithuania.

A second brigade will have 1,640 Ukrainians and the third 1,100 Spanish troops as well as units from Honduras, the Dominican Republic and El Salvador and Nicaragua.

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