Displaced Iraqis trudge into Falluja after truce

Spanish women soldiers of the international brigade 'Plus Ultra' arrived yesterday at Talavera la Real Air Base in Badajoz, Spain from their mission in Diwaniya, Iraq, where they were posted since last December. PHOTO: AFP

Civilians who had fled battles between US Marines and Sunni insurgents trickled back into Falluja yesterday after a deal to end fighting in the Iraqi city.

Witnesses said a few displaced civilians trudged into Falluja, but Marine checkpoints turned back vehicles.

Thousands of Iraqis had left the city, west of Baghdad, to escape fierce clashes in which hundreds of civilians and dozens of Marines were killed earlier this month.

The returnees were venturing back a day after the US military said it would only resume offensive operations in Falluja if gunmen failed to turn in their heavy weapons.

US forces also gave Iraqi mediators more time to resolve a standoff with rebel Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and his militia in the holy city of Najaf, south of the capital.

While violence has eased in Iraq in the past two days, US-funded Iraqiya Television said two of its staff were killed by US forces on Monday while working in Samarra, north of Baghdad. The US military had no immediate information.

Cracks have appeared in the US-led coalition as it grapples with guerrilla attacks and a wave of kidnapping only 10 weeks before a planned handover of power to Iraqis.

Spain, whose troops have clashed with Sadr's Mehdi Army this month, said on Monday it had begun withdrawing its 1,400-strong contingent from Iraq. Honduras said it would pull out its 370 troops as soon as possible.

President Bush told new Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero he regretted the move and warned him against giving "false comfort to terrorists."

Bush, seeking re-election in November, signaled the importance he attaches to Iraq by naming the top US diplomat at the United Nations, John Negroponte, to be his ambassador to Baghdad when administrator Paul Bremer stands down on June 30.

Spanish and Honduran troops are part of a Polish-led multinational division in mainly Shia south-central Iraq.

Four mortar rounds landed before dawn in the Shia shrine city of Kerbala, near the building where Polish troops are stationed, witnesses said. There were no casualties.

In Falluja, residents said there had been no fighting since Monday's US truce announcement. Negotiators had agreed after three days of talks to work for a lasting cease-fire in Falluja, said Dan Senor, the administration's chief spokesman.