11 April 2004	Sunday	20 Safar 1425

FALLUJAH, April 10: The US-led occupation forces, facing mounting criticism of their bloody drive against Iraqis, suspended offensive operations in the town of Fallujah on Saturday and offered mediation talks but faced renewed attacks. The guerillas said they would hold ceasefire talks only when Marines withdrew from the city.

The fighters have also claimed that they have captured 30 foreigners which will be released when the occupation forces will leave Iraq. The captors of three Japanese have given a deadline of 1200 GMT (0500pm PST) and asked the Japan to withdraw their 550 troops from Iraq.

As far the mediation talks for ceasefire, a spokesman for the Islamic Party, Qahtan al Rubaie said: "They want to see US forces pull out to something like five kilometres outside the city. No ceasefire can take place while the US forces keep pounding Fallujah." Mr Rubaie was a member of the negotiating team sent by the Governing Council (IGC) to negotiate with the fighters.

Street fighting also erupted in Baghdad when teenagers shot at US troops from alleys in the predominantly Sunni district of Adhimiya. An Iraqi was killed in his car as he tried to flee the area.

The US move for a ceasefire came as new cracks appeared in the occupation with Iraqi leaders denouncing the drive against militants in Fallujah and much of Baghdad closed down in a protest strike amid heavy exchanges of fire.

The IGC issued a statement on Saturday condemning the US operation as amounting to "collective punishment of innocent civilians".

"We call for an immediate ceasefire and for resorting to political solutions for situations in some parts of the country, particularly in the city of Fallujah," the council said in a statement.

The Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) also submitted a draft ceasefire agreement to Moqtada Sadr, the radical Shia leader whose militia has battled occupation forces across central and southern Iraq, an intermediary said.

The CPA showed no easing of its no-deal stand against the abductors of three Japanese hostages threatened with death as the list of foreigners feared kidnapped in Iraq lengthened.

OPERATION HALTED: US officials said they had suspended their offensive in Fallujah as of 0800 GMT to allow for talks on the delivery of relief supplies and the care of the dead and wounded in the town.

Brig Gen Mark Kimmitt, the deputy director of operations, said the authority was looking for a full ceasefire in the town, where more than 400 Iraqis have been killed and 1,000 wounded since Monday.

"If the ceasefire holds, talks regarding the establishment of legitimate Iraqi authority will begin," he said at a Baghdad news conference, adding that the US army retained the "right of self-defence".

Two more battalions, including Iraqi paramilitary forces, were dispatched to the town as reinforcements, Brig Kimmitt said.

A 35-member Iraqi delegation, including members of the interim Governing Council, entered Fallujah on Saturday to hold talks on ending the fighting, a US official said. But on the ground, sporadic fighting erupted, with a US battalion commander, Lt Col Brennan Byrne, saying: "I've got no direction of any kind on a ceasefire so I'll continue to fight until I'm instructed to do different."

A military statement said one Marine was killed and another wounded in continued fighting after the ceasefire was initiated.

The Marines also claimed they had killed 10-12 guerillas after an American convoy of light-armoured vehicles was ambushed by approximately 30 guerillas further west near the Syrian border.

STRIKE: Most shops, banks, ministries and schools across Baghdad closed down during the day after a prominent religious leader called for a strike to protest the Fallujah offensive.

A year after toppling Saddam Hussein's government, the United States found itself scrambling to nail down details of an exit strategy with less than 12 weeks to go before its June 30 deadline for restoring Iraqi self-rule.

As polls showed domestic support for his Iraq policies plummeting, President George Bush rejected calls to push back the deadline for the restoration of self-rule, refusing to cave in to what he called a "small faction" of malcontents.

HOSTAGES: A new factor in the equation was the abduction of foreign civilians, including three Japanese held by a group that said it would burn them alive if Tokyo did not pull its 550 troops out of Iraq by 1200 GMT on Sunday. Another unknown group said it was holding 30 foreigners and would behead them unless occupation troops pulled out of Iraq, the television station Al Arabiya said.

Two German security guards went missing on Saturday and an Australian television station showed film of an apparent American hostage. Two US soldiers were also said to be missing.

In Baghdad, the occupation authority said it would not give in to any blackmail. "We will not negotiate with any terrorists that take hostage of any individual, and we will seek to capture or kill them," spokesman Dan Senor said.

OFFER TO SADR: In addition to the guerillas in Fallujah, occupation forces also squared off on various fronts against the militia loyal to Moqtada Sadr, who has vowed to resist the invaders.

The ceasefire offered to Sadr called his militia to disband, withdraw from public buildings and respect state institutions and the law, said Jawad al Maliki, a member of the Dawa party, a mainstream Shia faction.

He said Moqtada Sadr, who is wanted by the CPA for alleged involvement in the murder of a pro-western religious leader last year, welcomed the draft under certain conditions. "There are ways to reach a compromise," he said.

US forces sought to consolidate control of the town of Kut, southeast of Baghdad, where Sadr's forces chased out Ukrainian troops on Wednesday.

Helicopters pounded positions outside Kut, and hospital officials said seven people were killed. They said the overall Iraqi toll from four days of fighting was 16 dead and 26 wounded.

WARNING TO PILGRIMS: Authorities warned thousands of pilgrims gathering in central Iraq, particularly Najaf, on Sunday for the Arbain (the 40th day after the martyrdom of Hazrat Imam Hussein and his followers) to watch out for possible bombings.

Sheikh Hamza al Tai, commander of Sadr's Mehdi militia in the city south of Baghdad, announced a halt to operations against Polish and Bulgarian troops in Karbala until the end of Arbain.

He said the ceasefire would hold only if the foreign troops stayed away from holy shrines in the city centre and did not interfere with armed groups positioned around Karbala to secure the safety of pilgrims.

Sheikh Tai added that the ceasefire was also "aimed at giving a chance to a political solution" to the confrontation between Shia militiamen and occupation troops that started a week ago. -Reuters/AFP