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BAGHDAD -- Ten U.S. troops were killed in combat across Iraq and two others died in accidents, the military announced Sunday, as Spain's new prime minister ordered the withdrawal of 1,300 Spanish troops from the country.

A day after he was sworn in, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said he did not believe that the United Nations would assume responsibility for Iraq after the U.S.-led occupation formally ends June 30 -- his criterion for allowing the troops to stay.

"More than anything, this decision reflects my desire to keep the promise I made to the Spanish people more than a year ago," said Zapatero, whose Socialist party scored an upset victory in March 14 general elections. "Driven by the deepest democratic convictions, the government does not want to, cannot and will not act against or behind the backs of the will of the Spanish people."

The pullout, announced in Madrid, would deprive the United States of troops in a swath of south-central Iraq where forces are attempting to quell a two-week insurrection by militiamen loyal to a radical cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr. Zapatero said the withdrawal would begin as soon as possible.

The deaths of the 12 troops, all Saturday, raised to nearly 100 the number of Americans killed in combat in April, already the deadliest month since the U.S. invasion began in Iraq, as urban rebellions, ambushes of military convoys and hostage takings have convulsed the country.

In the bloodiest encounter of the weekend, five Marines were killed near the Syrian border in a daylong firefight with a force of 120 to 150 insurgents armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.

The battle began when a Marine patrol came under attack at 8 a.m. Saturday near Qusaybah, according to Maj. Thomas V. Johnson, a Marine spokesman. "Additional Marines, backed by helicopter close-air support, were dispatched to the city and soon came under fire by enemy equipped with rifles and rocket-propelled grenades," he said. The Marines estimated 25 to 30 guerrillas were killed.

The same morning, a soldier from the 1st Cavalry Division, which formally took control of Baghdad last week, was killed and two were injured when their M1-A1 Abrams tank rolled over in a northern section of the city. Rollovers involving the 63-ton tank are rare, and the division has ordered a safety investigation.

A half-hour later, another 1st Cavalry Division soldier was killed when his convoy hit a roadside bomb in eastern Baghdad. In the evening, three soldiers from the 1st Armored Division were shot to death in an ambush near the southern town of Diwaniyah.

In addition, a Marine was killed "by enemy action" Saturday in western Anbar province.

In northern Iraq Saturday night, a 1st Infantry Division soldier was electrocuted while working on a generator at a military base near Samarra around 10:30 p.m.

The deaths occurred the same day the military abruptly closed sections of major highways to all traffic except military and contractor vehicles, severely slowing the movement of people and goods to and from the Iraqi capital.

U.S. military commanders said the shutdown applied to 180 miles of roads leading into the capital from the north, south and west. Persistent attacks on convoys have lead to shortages of food and other essential supplies on American military installations and inside the headquarters of the U.S.-led occupation authority.

Army engineers erected prefabricated modular steel bridges to temporarily replace spans south and west of Baghdad that were damaged in an apparently coordinated series of roadside bombings that began two weeks ago.

Military logisticians have tried to adapt to the hazardous conditions by using alternate and less-direct routes off major highways and by prioritizing the delivery of supplies according to the urgency with which units need them, a military official, Army Maj. Richard W. Spiegel, said yesterday.

"In certain cases, the recent increase in attacks may have changed the way we do business, but it has not affected the way we supply or support the troops," said Spiegel, a spokesman for the 13th Corps Support Command, which manages logistics for the joint military command in Iraq. "Water, food, ammunition, fuel, spare parts and other critical supplies are still getting where they need to be when they need to be there."

Of particular concern is a major expressway, called Main Supply Route Tampa by U.S. commanders, that carries the bulk of military traffic in Iraq. The expressway runs east from the Jordanian and Syrian borders toward Baghdad, before veering southeast toward Basra and the Kuwaiti border.

Ambushes and bombings along the highways amount to "a concerted effort on the part of the enemy to try to interfere with our lines of communication, our main supply routes," and the effects could ripple through the Iraqi economy, the top U.S. military spokesman in Iraq, Army Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, warned Friday.

The owner of a trucking company in Baghdad, who gave his name only as Abu Abdullah because several of his drivers have received death threats for working with Americans, said his employees have begun to refuse work connected to the occupation.

For much of the past year, Abu Abdullah said, his company has transported concrete barriers, food and electrical supplies for Kellogg Brown & Root, the firm that has the major contract for transporting food and supplies for the U.S. military in Iraq. The trucking company often would take materials from the Balad air base, about 45 miles northwest of Baghdad, to smaller bases.

"Whatever we take, it's dangerous now," Abu Abdullah said. "The mujahadeen stop you on the road. They ask you: Who are taking these things for? They want to see the papers. If you lie and you don't have the right papers, they will burn you with the trailer."

He added that Kellogg Brown & Root, a unit of Halliburton Co., has begun offering trucking companies 1 million dinars -- about $700 -- for an overnight truck trip in some cases, a large sum in a country where $200 is considered a decent monthly salary. "The drivers still refuse," Abu Abdullah said, even when the firm has offered armed escorts.

Kellogg Brown & Root suspended convoy trips after insurgents ambushed an Army fuel-truck convoy April 9, killing one soldier and an Iraqi driver. The company recently resumed the convoys, a Halliburton spokeswoman said.

A Pentagon spokesman said Spain's decision to withdraw its troops came as no surprise. "We knew it was Spain's intention since the election to do this," the spokesman said on condition of anonymity. "We hope the withdrawal will be done in a reasonable and coordinated manner."

In another development, the new Iraqi defense minister, Ali Abdul-Amir Allawi, appointed three generals to serve as his top military adviser and the country's top two military commanders.

Gen. Babekr Badarkhan Shawkat Zibari, 57, a former commander of the Kurdish pesh merga militias, was named senior military adviser. Gen. Amer Ahmed Bakr Hashimi, 58, a major general under former President Saddam Hussein, was named chief of staff and commander of the Iraqi Armed Forces. Another former major general, Lt. Gen. Daham Radhi Rustum Assal, 63, was named deputy chief of staff.

The appointment of former military officers to the new Defense Ministry has been criticized, but U.S. commanders said recently that they are needed because management experience is lacking.

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