Soleiman Awad, spokesman for the president's office, "categorically denied" Mubarak had told Bush the Iraqi president had such weapons, the grounds used to invade but which turned out to be false, the official news agency MENA said.

In his memoirs, "Decision Points," Bush says Mubarak had warned Tommy Franks, then the US commander of troops in the Middle East, that "Iraq had biological weapons and was certain to use them on our troops."

Bush wrote that Egypt's president had "refused to make the allegation in public for fear of inciting the Arab street. But the intelligence from a Middle Eastern leader who knew Saddam well had an impact on my thinking."

On the contrary, insisted Awad, Mubarak had "cautioned the US president and many other US officials whom he met against an invasion of Iraq, warning it would constitute a flagrant violation of international law."

He had predicted "an invasion would not be an easy mission because it would provoke fierce resistance during which Iraq would use all the arms at its disposal," added Awad, without mention of weapons of mass destruction.

earlier related report
US soldier shot dead in north Iraq
Baghdad (AFP) Nov 21, 2010 - An American soldier in Iraq died of his wounds on Sunday after being shot, the US army said in a statement.

"A United States Forces-Iraq soldier died of wounds sustained from enemy small arms fire Sunday during advisory operations in northern Iraq," it said, adding that the soldier's name would be released once his family was notified.

His death was the first of a US soldier in Iraq as a result of hostile action since two American troops were killed by an Iraqi army comrade who opened fire on them on an Iraqi base on September 7.

It brings to 4,429 the number of US soldiers who have died in Iraq since the US-led invasion to oust Saddam Hussein in 2003, according to an AFP tally based on data from independent website www.icasualties.org.

Nearly 50,000 American troops remain stationed in Iraq, focused on training and advising Iraqi security forces as well as conducting joint counter-terrorism operations with local forces.

All US soldiers must leave Iraq by the end of 2011 under the terms of a bilateral security pact.

earlier related report
Iraq TV reporter gunned down in home: police
Mosul, Iraq (AFP) Nov 21, 2010 - Gunmen killed a young television news reporter in his home in the restive northern city of Mosul on Sunday, in the latest in a series of deadly attacks on journalists in Iraq, police said.

Mazin Mardan, in his mid-20s, was a correspondent for Al-Mosuliyah satellite television channel, covering hard news and carrying out interviews for the city's local station.

"Unknown gunmen raided the house of Mazin Mardan of Al-Mosuliyah satellite channel in the Al-Sadiq neighbourhood, east Mosul," police Major Mohammed al-Hayali said. "They killed him and they escaped."

The shooting occurred at around 6:00 pm (1500 GMT) in the city, 350 kilometres (220 miles) north of Baghdad, Hayali said.

In October, the International Press Institute press watchdog said more journalists had been killed in Iraq this year than in all of 2009.

The same month, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ranked Iraq a lowly 145th place for media freedom out of 175 countries, and in September said the Iraq conflict has been the deadliest for the media since World War II.

And according to the "Impunity Index" released in April by the Committee to Protect Journalists, Iraq has the worst record of any country for solving the murders of reporters.

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