Tony Blair is next week set to fly to the US for top-level talks with President Bush, Downing Street has confirmed.

The prime minister will meet with senior members of the US administration and hold talks with UN secretary general Kofi Annan for the first time since the bugging row.

The meetings will come during a two day trip to the US starting next Thursday.

The recent escalation in violence in Iraq is likely to dominate the meeting with the president.

President Bush has vowed to stay the course in Iraq following a dramatic escalation in the US death toll.

But he also remains insistent that the handover of power from the coalition to the Iraqi people themselves can take place by the June deadline.

On Wednesday it was confirmed that a further 12 marines had been killed in a single battle with insurgents in Iraq.

That clash followed days of tense stand-offs between Shia Muslims who have launched a new uprising in the south.

The US and its allies are now having to fight on two fronts - prompting fears that post-conflict Iraq could be set to fall into a bitter civil war.

Both London and Washington have insisted that they will stay the course in Iraq, although pressure is mounting on President Bush ahead of the autumn presidential election.

The growing death toll is leading to renewed calls for the US to pull-out of Iraq - a move which could fatally undermine the president and could seriously damage Tony Blair.

Speaking on Tuesday following talks with the Iraqi foreign minister, the prime minister was defiant in the wake of the recent surge in violence.

"It was always going to be a difficult task," said Blair. "Big challenges remain in Iraq - of that there is no doubt as events in recent days show.
 
"Iraq has been a deeply damaged country and going from totalitarianism to freedom was always bound to be difficult.

"A few groups are abusing those freedoms in Iraq. They are supporters of Saddam Hussein, there are some outside terrorists and then... there are people who want to subvert the path of Iraq towards a proper democracy."

Meanwhile it has been reported that the recent upsurge in violence has led the US to move Saddam Hussein out of the country.

According to media reports, the former Iraqi leader has been moved to a US military base in Qatar.