Tense Quiet In Fallujah
Gunfire was largely silenced Monday in the second day of a truce in Fallujah, where the top U.S. military spokesman said about 70 Americans and 700 insurgents had been killed since April 1.
The commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad confirmed two American troops are unaccounted for in Iraq. They were in a convoy attacked on Saturday. Lt. General Ricardo Sanchez also says seven civilian contractors are also missing in Iraq.
Additional U.S. forces have been maneuvering into place, and the military has warned it will launch an all-out assault on Fallujah if talks there between pro-U.S. Iraqi politicians and city officials — which were continuing Monday — fall through.
The Iraqi national security adviser called on Fallujah's population to hand over insurgents who killed and mutilated four American civilians on March 31 as a way to halt the Marines' siege of the city.
"I am calling on Fallujah's good people … to hand over these criminals and finish the bloodshed," said Mouwafak al-Rubaie.
A U.S. soldier was killed and four others wounded when their patrol was attacked on Sunday near the city of Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, a statement said. At least 665 U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq since the war began in March 2003.
In other developments:
Militants have seized at least 29 civilian hostages from 11 countries and have briefly detained a number of foreign journalists during a weeklong uprising. Some were already freed.
Friends and neighbors of an American hostage, Thomas Hamill, on Sunday gathered for a vigil to pray for the safe return of the civilian. A deadline imposed by his abductors came and went with no word of his fate.
Beijing appealed Monday for the release of seven Chinese workers seized in Iraq, while optimism faded that three Japanese hostages would be released quickly as Tokyo's top government spokesman suggested authorities were no longer confident of their safety.
In Fallujah, Marines on Sunday examined a house that was discovered three days earlier where two such belts were found. The new search revealed three more belts and a carton with "82nd Airborne" stamped on the top that was full of U.S. Army-issued desert fatigues, said Lt. Col. Brennan Byrne, commander of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment.
Byrne said the discovery suggested attackers intended to use the uniforms to get close to Marine positions, then set off their explosives.
Byrne said it was not clear from the discovery whether an al Qaeda-trained foreign cell was operating in Fallujah or if local militants were intending to use suicide tactics.
Military commanders, though, say several foreign fighters have entered Fallujah and infiltrated the ranks of the insurgents. In the past week, at least five — including a Syrian, and Egyptian and a Sudanese — have been detained during the siege of the city.
Hardly a shot was heard in Fallujah Monday morning, more than 36 hours after insurgents in the city said they were calling a cease-fire. The Marines have halted offensive operations since Friday.
Despite the truce, guerrillas overnight made sporadic attacks, said Marines killed two insurgents setting up a machine gun near a patrol. Gunmen hiding in a school shot at other Marines, he said.
Byrne said U.S. Marines would not withdraw from their positions in Fallujah. "Diplomacy is just talk unless you have a credible force to balk it up," he said. "People will bend to our will if they are afraid of us."
U.S.-allied Iraqi leaders have increasingly expressed anger at the bloodshed in Iraq over the past week, saying the military has used excessive force.
By an Associated Press count, around 882 Iraqis have been killed across the country since April 4, including in Fallujah. The head of Fallujah's hospital said on Sunday that 600 Iraqis — mostly civilians — were killed in the siege of that city alone.
Iraqi Governing Council members are seeking a way to extend the truce and resolve the violence in Fallujah.
In the south, members of the Council have reportedly held talks with followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who raised a bloody revolt last week and still control three holy cities, Karbala, Kufa and Najaf.
U.S. troops retook the city of Kut from al-Sadr followers in the past three days, in the first major foray in months by the American military into southern Iraq. But military action to retake the other cities could require fighting near some of Shiite Islam's holiest shrines, raising the possibility of enflaming Shiite anger at the U.S.-led occupation.
U.S. coalition spokesman Dan Senor would not comment on Iraqi talks with al-Sadr's followers but added, "I would say that our goal is to minimize bloodshed and to head off any sort of conflict."