A U.S. soldier was killed and two others were injured in an explosion near the Iraqi flashpoint town of Fallujah, witnesses said Thursday. Elsewhere, a U.S. soldier was killed in a roadside bomb attack in the capital Baghdad Wednesday, according to the U.S. military. "Two soldiers from the 1st Armored Division were injured when an explosive device blew up against their patrol in central Baghdad, on the eastern side of the river, on Wednesday at 09:00 am (0600 GMT)," a military spokesman said on Thursday. The spokesman said the soldier was critically injured Wednesday and died from his wounds several hours later. "One of them unfortunately died from his wounds last night at 09:00 pm," he added. Meanwhile, in what seems to be a fresh blow to U.S. efforts in Iraq, Japan pulled back Thursday from sending troops to strengthen international forces in the country, a day after the worst attack yet on U.S.-occupation forces. The conditions were not right for Japan to send troops, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda told reporters, hours after an attack on an Italian military police base in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah claimed 27 Italian and Iraqi lives. "If the situation allowed our Self-Defense Forces to participate, they could go at any time... Unfortunately, it is not such a situation," Fukuda told a news conference Thursday. His comments come as U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld prepares to visit Tokyo for talks which had been expected to see Japan commit to sending troops to aid its U.S. ally. It should be mentioned that just hours before the attack in Nasiriyah, Tokyo had issued its strongest public message to date that it planned to send troops later this year. "We are firm in our thinking that we will have a dispatch this year," Fukuda said Wednesday. And on Thursday Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told reporters that intimidation would not deflect Japan from its commitment to help rebuild the war-torn country. However, the Japanese law on helping rebuild Iraq, enacted in July, prohibits the government from sending troops to combat zones and Samawah, where the Japanese are expected to be based, is less than 100 kilometers from Nasiriyah, AFP said. Fukuda, the top government spokesman insisted Thursday, "We have consistently felt that we want to participate as soon as possible in helping with reconstruction... (but) we must react to the changing situation." **'Power to the People' Says Bush*** US President George Bush said his country wants Iraq's people to take more responsibility for governing their troubled country. Under the pressure of increasing American deaths in battle, Bush said he was sending Paul Bremer, the top US administrator in Baghdad, back to the country to work with its people on developing a plan to speed up establishment of an Iraqi government. Bush said the US was in a "struggle" with guerillas there for the support of ordinary Iraqis. French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin urged an urgent change in US policy, proposing the creation of a consultative assembly that could form a provisional government. "Let's start with what already exists: there is a governing council, a council of ministers and a constitutional committee," de Villepin said in Paris. Australia, which supported the US invasion, also backed a swift transfer of power. "There should be more effective security and transfer of power as quickly as possible: more fully to the Iraqis both on a political and security level," its Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Pallbearers carry the 'casket' of killed US soldier, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2003, West Liberty, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)