Coalition members warned not to pull out of Iraq too hastily

US Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick warned against countries pulling their troops out of US-led military coalition in Iraq too hastily.

"It would be very unfortunate when things are moving in the right direction (in Iraq) if partners withdrew their forces," Zoellick told a press conference in the Estonian capital Tallinn.

"All our countries want to bring their forces home -- we do, too," he said. "But under what circumstances of progress in Iraq?"

Zoellick said the situation in Iraq was improving after elections held at the end of January.

Though US President George W Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have been giving the impression that the insurgency situation in Iraq is improving, the American Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), which monitors the situation daily, says it has worsened.

"The insurgency in Iraq has grown in size and complexity over the past year. Attacks numbered approximately 25 per day one year ago," DIA Director Vice Admiral Lowell Jacoby told the Senate Armed Services Committee in Washington.

"Attacks on Iraq's election day reached approximately 300, almost double the previous one day high of about 160 during last year's Ramadan. Since the January 30 election, attacks have averaged around 60 per day and in the 1st two weeks dropped to approximately 50 per day," Jacoby said.

The pattern of attacks, he said, remains the same as last year. Approximately 80 per cent of all attacks occur in Sunni-dominated central Iraq.