By Ross Colvin

BAGHDAD, Aug 17: US troops are patrolling the streets in some Baghdad neighbourhoods on foot in a new bid to win the trust of Iraqis, an unusual sight for many residents more used to seeing them travel in armoured vehicle convoys.

Taking a more personal approach to Iraqis long critical of heavy handed tactics is part of the strategy aimed at reclaiming Baghdad's most dangerous neighbourhoods from insurgents and easing communal strife.

Thousands of US reinforcements have arrived in Baghdad in recent weeks to join a crackdown by US and Iraqi forces on worsening sectarian violence between once-dominant minority Sunnis and majority Shi'ites in the city.

Mindful of the three-year-old Sunni insurgency fighting to expel them from Iraqi soil, US commanders explain to residents that their aim is to restore security in support of Iraqi police.

''I want to get this job done so I can go home and live with my family and you can live with your family,'' Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Peterson, commander of the First Squadron, 14th US Cavalry, told one man through his interpreter in al-Hadar, an area of the notoriously violent southern Dora district.

Peterson, whose unit usually travels in Stryker armoured vehicles, had dismounted to talk to residents while his men and Iraqi police swept the neighbourhood for illegal weapons.

''Certainly there is a renewed emphasis on troops interacting with the people,'' he said when asked whether the US military was adopting a new tactic with the foot patrols.

Since arriving two weeks ago, two Strykers have been hit by roadside bombs, causing no major damage, and several others have been shot at, soldiers said. The unit's base has also been rocketed and mortared. Foot patrols are far more risky.

IRAQI POLICE

Still, Peterson's walkabout appeared to pay off -- residents he spoke to seemed happy to see US soldiers back on the streets in force after months of sectarian violence that has killed thousands and driven thousands more from their homes.

''We feel safe when we see Americans,'' one man said to him, before pushing Peterson to improve the poor electricity supply, and fix broken sewerage pipes, a list of complaints repeated often and one Peterson promised to take to the district council.

In many of his conversations, he emphasised the role of the Iraqi police in helping to restore security to the area, an attempt to build up the reputation of a force viewed by most Sunnis as an extension of the Shi'ite militias they blame for much of the recent violence.

''I am hoping this mission with the national police will stop people being killed in future,'' he assured one man who told him his father had been killed in a drive-by shooting this week.

But police are widely viewed as poorly trained, politicised and less competent than the Iraqi military, a concern US officials hope to address with retraining and embedding advisers.

And in a city where militias and criminal gangs often wear police uniforms, winning the trust of Iraqis is vital.

Many of the policemen taking part in the raid on al-Hadar were young, appeared uncertain, and wore a variety of camouflage uniforms and helmets.

''There is still work to be done, but every day they are getting better and better,'' Peterson said. ''Are they perfect? No. Will they be self-sufficient in the future? Yes.''

REUTERS