The Bush administration is coming under more pressure over Iraq after a call from a senior Democrat for the US to pull its troops out of Iraq immediately. Congressman John Murtha was speaking just days after the Senate asked for a plan to end the war.

He said: "Our troops have become the primary target of the insurgency. They are united against US forces and we have become a catalyst for violence. US troops are the common enemy of the Sunnis, the Saddamists and the foreign jihadists," he said.

Murtha, who originally supported the war, sits on a committee overseeing military spending and is one of his party's top spokesmen on defence.

The Bush administration has so far rejected proposals for a timetable on American withdrawal. It is trying to build up Iraqi forces so that US troops can eventually leave.

But public opposition to the war is growing steadily in America. One recent poll showed 52 percent say troops should be pulled out now or within 12 months.

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John Murtha.