BAGHDAD - US-led forces have control of fewer than one-third of Baghdad's neighborhoods despite thousands of extra troops nearly four months into a security crackdown, a newspaper reported Monday - an assessment that came as the US casualty toll soared.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, left, and Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani attend a press conference, in Dukan 50 kilometers east of Sulaimaniyah, 260 kilometers (160 miles) northeast of Baghdad, Iraq, on Sunday, June 3, 2007. [AP]

But military officials said they have warned all along that the fight would not be easy.

Iraqi police also said at least six people were killed and 14 were wounded in three separate bombings Monday in Baghdad.

The New York Times said an American assessment of the security plan through late May found that American and Iraqi forces were able to "protect the population" and "maintain physical influence over" only 146 of the 457 Baghdad neighborhoods.

Troops have either not begun operations aimed at rooting out insurgents or still face "resistance" in the remaining 311 neighborhoods, according to the report, which cited a one-page assessment along with summaries from brigade and battalion commanders in Baghdad.

US and Iraqi military officials played down the report.

"We have stated all along that this was going to be harder before it gets easier," military spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Garver said. "It's going to be a tough fight over the summer and the plan is just in its beginning stages."

It appeared to be the first comprehensive analysis of the progress of the operation that began Feb. 14. Gen. David Petraeus, the top US commander in Iraq, is due to report in September on whether the current troop increase is working amid a fierce debate in Washington over whether President Bush should begin withdrawing American forces.

Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl, a military spokesman for Baghdad, also stressed that some of the extra American units ordered to Baghdad as part of a so-called surge of forces had yet to start operations.

"No one expects all 457 to be under control at this time," he said in an e-mail.

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