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US starts unilateral ceasefire in Iraq

A US general called on militants in Fallujah yesterday to join a bilateral ceasefire. Insurgents struck US troops in Baghdad and central Iraq, setting a tank on fire in the capital and engaging in battles that killed 40 Iraqis, a US spokesman said.

There was no immediate response from Sunni insurgents to the general's call in Fallujah, where bloody fighting has been raging all week, and a team of Iraqi leaders from Baghdad entered the city to hold talks with local leaders. Marine commanders said they had no orders yet for a full ceasefire.

Explosions and sporadic gunfire were heard yesterday afternoon, and the Marines largely remained in the industrial zone they hold in the eastern part of the city. Some Marines moved a few blocks into a nearby neighborhood, breaking into homes, witnesses said, in an apparent attempt to clear out gunmen firing on them.

"Today what we are seeking is a bilateral ceasefire on the battlefield so we can allow for discussions," Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt told reporters in Baghdad.

"This is an aspiration," he said. He added that he was "hoping to get this messsage to the enemy through this press conference" and the Arabic press "so they can join the ceasefire."

In Fallujah, a party of 35 Iraqi officials -- including several Governing Council members -- entered the beseiged city yesterday to hold talks with local leaders. Council members have expressed increasing anger over the US siege, calling it a "mass punishment" for its 200,000 residents.

The purpose of the talks was unclear. Kimmitt underlined that the talks were going on with city officials who "want to see Iraqi police back in the police stations, that want to see Iraqi Civil Defense Corps members walking the streets of Fallujah, that want to see the Iraqi army walking the streets of Fallujah."

A Marine commander said he had no orders yet for a full cease-fire.

"I've got no direction of any kind on a ceasefire, so I will continue to fight until I'm instructed to do differently. I don't know what the word is from Baghdad, but I've got word from my higher headquarters, and if they wanted me to hold up, they would tell me," said Lieutenant Colonel Brennan Byrne, commanding officer of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment.

Despite heavy fighting since Monday morning, Marines have insisted they were winning the battle to uproot Sunni insurgents in Fallujah.

When ordered on Friday to halt all offensive operations, Marines complained that doing so would expose them to insurgent attacks. So they demanded and received the right to conduct offensive operations necessary to prevent attacks on their positions -- a more aggressive stance than merely responding to attacks, a tactic which the Marines say is useless in guerrilla-style warfare.

The Marines have been in position encircling Fallujah and in a large industrial zone inside the southeastern part of the city.

After the unilateral halt began, they did not advance into residential areas to engage gunmen there. But one Marine was killed Friday and another wounded in combat.

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