Tens of international aid organizations in Iraq have been considering to leave the war-torn country since two Italian women were kidnapped Tuesday.

According to a coordinator for foreign aid groups, most of the remaining international agencies will pull out after reviewing the security situation in Iraq.

Barely two weeks after an Italian journalist was executed by Iraqi kidnappers, two female Italian aid workers Simona Torretta and Simona Pari, working for an Italian charity, Un Ponte Per Baghdad (Bridge to Baghdad), were kidnapped by gunmen from their Baghdad office on Tuesday.

An Iraqi engineer working with them, identified as "Rad," and an Iraqi working for another Italian aid organization, Intersos, were also abducted.

The Italian Foreign Ministry put its crisis unit into action asPrime Minister Silvio Berlusconi returned to Rome from Milan to chair an emergency cabinet meeting on the kidnappings.

Meanwhile, the US military death toll in Iraq has surpassed 1,000 on Tuesday since the start of the US-led invasion in March 2003, as more US soldiers were killed in scattered clashes with Iraqi militants in the Baghdad area.

However, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld played down the importance of the 1,000 mark being passed, saying the death toll of victims of terrorism, including the some 3,000 lost in the Sept.11, 2001, attacks, has far dwarfed 1,000.

In a report to the UN Security Council on Tuesday, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the unending violence in Iraq may threaten the elections scheduled for January 2005.

US MILITARY DEATHS INCREASE

One US soldier was killed and two others were wounded early Wednesday in a bomb attack in Baghdad's Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City, said the US military.

The attack took place when a homemade bomb exploded at around 5:30 a.m.

(01:30 GMT), the military said in a statement.

Late on Wednesday, the US military said a US helicopter crashed near the western Iraqi city of Fallujah but the four crew were evacuated from the crash site.

Within 24 hours until Tuesday, over ten US soldiers were killed in fighting with militants in Iraq, said the US military.

The Iraqi Health Ministry released reports about the casualties of Iraqis during the clashes, saying around 40 people were killed in the fighting.

On Monday, the US military had suffered its worst single human loss in months when a car bomb ripped through a joint convoy, killing seven marines and three Iraqi national guards near Fallujah.

Two military vehicles were also destroyed in the explosion, witnesses said, adding US troops rushed to the scene and sealed off the area while helicopters were seen flying overhead and Marine snipers were deployed around the area.

HOSTAGE CRISIS CONTINUES

Iraq's hostage crisis showed no signs of abating as two Italian aid workers were kidnapped by gunmen.

Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi joined the opposition leadersin calling for a unified response to the abduction. Italy has the third largest military contingent in Iraq with 2,700 troops.

The militias in Iraq kidnapped and killed Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni in August, and security guard Fabrizio Quattrocchi inApril.

For its part, the French government was still trying to save two French journalists held hostage since Aug. 20.

Secretary-General of the Union of French Islamic Organizations Fouad Alaoui who came back from Iraq said the talks over the release were in a "delivery phase" and the two hostages "are in good health and that the release is possible."

On Wednesday, French government spokesman Jean-Francois Cope said, "We remain in the same state of hope -- confident and cautious at the same time."

Meanwhile, an Internet statement purportedly from the Iraqi militants holding the two French denied on Wednesday they had demanded a ransom of 5 million US dollars or set a 48-hour deadline.