Threat To Kill American Hostage

The kidnappers, identifying themselves as the "Muhahedeen Squadron," said they made the decision after mediation by the Islamic Clerics Committee, an Iraqi Sunni Muslim organization, Al-Jazeera reported.

In a statement, the kidnappers urged the Japanese public to press their government to withdraw its troops from Iraq, the station said.

Footage delivered to Al-Jazeera, as well as Associated Press Television News, on Thursday showed the three Japanese — two aid workers and a journalist — blindfolded and threatened by masked men with guns and knives.

The kidnappers threatened in a statement delivered to al-Jazeera with the footage that the hostages would be burned alive if Japan's troops were not pulled from Iraq within three days.

The insurgents made the offer through mediators in negotiations between council members and city representatives in Fallujah, said council member Mahmoud Othman.

The insurgents and U.S. officials have agreed to a cease-fire in principle starting Sunday morning, Othman told The Associated Press, but he cast doubt on whether it would come into effect given each sides' demands.

"Fighters in the city say they want the Americans to withdraw, but I don't know how likely that is," Othman said.

U.S. commanders demand the handover of Iraqis who killed and mutilated four American civilians on March 31 and the return of Iraqi police to their stations to keep order, Othman said.

Brig. Gen Mark Kimmitt told reporters in Baghdad Saturday that fighters must also "lay down their arms" and renounce their membership in extremist groups to fully end the insurgency that has made Fallujah its stronghold.

Sporadic gun and mortar fire has continued in Fallujah, although Marines called a unilateral halt to offensive operations since noon Friday. The Marines have moved in reinforcements and warn of an assault to take the entire city if negotiations fall through.

Kimmitt said Marines had moved a third battalion near Fallujah to join the siege of the city, where two battalions of around 1,200 Marines and a battalion of nearly 900 Iraqi security forces were already in place.

Marines are currently encircling Fallujah outside its boundaries and hold positions in at least two significant areas within city limits.

The negotiations were taking place between a council delegation and a team of Fallujah sheiks, clerics and civic leaders, some of whom Othman said have influence with the fighters. Othman was not taking part directly in the talks.

Marine commanders in Fallujah were skeptical the talks would succeed.

"The prospect of some city father walking in and making 'Joe Jihadi' give himself up are pretty slim," said Lt. Col. Brennan Byrne, commander of the 1st Batallion, 5th Marine Regiment. "What is coming is the destruction of anti-coalition forces in Fallujah ... they have two choices: Submit or die."

Bloody fighting had been raging in Fallujah all week, until Friday's unilateral U.S. cessation of hostilities.

The fierce fighting in Fallujah since Monday has left 16 Marines and some 400 Iraqis dead.

Kimmitt said 60 insurgents have been captured in the campaign so far, including five foreign Arabs.

He added that nearly 60,000 Fallujah residents, about a third of the population, have streamed out of the city over the past two days, taking advantage of the lull in fighting.

Many Iraqi council members have been getting increasingly angry over the Fallujah siege.

But the footage, obtained by APTN and aired on Al-Arabiya TV, showed no images of any hostages, and there was no way to verify the group's claims.

The video showed a masked man holding an automatic weapon, saying, "We demand the withdrawal of all American forces and their allies. ... "If the siege of Fallujah is not lifted, we will cut off (the hostages') heads."

He claimed that his fighters had killed four American soldiers and said "we have their bodies."

The footage showed an image of a body with clothes covered in blood that the gunman claimed was that of an American soldier. The body's face could not be seen and there were no characteristic suggesting the nationality.

Two U.S. servicemen and several contract employees were still unaccounted for from attacks on Friday, a Pentagon spokesman, Lt. Commander Dan Hetlage, said Saturday.

A British citizen and two German security officials from their country's embassy in Baghdad are also missing, though it is not known if they have been kidnapped. A Canadian and an Arab from Jerusalem have also been abducted.

Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims are in Karbala and other Shiite cities to mark al-Arbaeen, the end of the mourning period for a 7th-century martyred Shiite saint. Ceremonies are to be held until Sunday night.

Both sides had indicated they would hold back on hostilities at least until the religious period was over.

But U.S. forces continued to fight gunmen in Kut, where hundreds of troops moved in Friday to wrest the city from the control of al-Sadr's militia. An AC-130 gunship and helicopters blasted militia positions as the Americans seized police stations and government buildings, Kimmitt said.

Kimmitt said seven militiamen were killed and 74 captured. Hospital officials in Kut said 23 Iraqis have been killed in clashes between al-Sadr supporters and U.S. forces since the incursion began.

Among those killed were at least 11 civilians, said Dr. Fouad Hussein at Baqouba General Hospital. Thirty-five others were injured, he said.

Also in the west of the city, a convoy of supply trucks being escorted by two U.S. Humvees was attacked. One of the trucks was set ablaze and the driver kidnapped, said Majid Hameed, a witness. The kidnapping could not be confirmed and the driver's nationality was not known.

In his party's weekly response, Michigan's Carl Levin, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, questioned why the administration insists on that deadline "even though we don't know the makeup of the interim government to whom we will be restoring sovereignty." He called for the administration to seek more U.N. involvement.