Ceasefire in Iraqi towns
11/04/2004 07:16  - (SA)  

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Baghdad - A report says two of Iraq's thorniest hot spots are heading for possible respite on Sunday with a 12-hour cease-fire in the Sunni Muslim bastion of Fallujah and a three-day truce in effect in the holy city of Karbala.

One US soldier was killed and another was wounded in Fallujah west of Baghdad, just hours before the mediation talks that hammered out the cease-fire, which an Iraqi mediator said was to pave the way for US Marines to leave the restive town.

In Karbala, Sheikh Hamza al-Tai, head of the Mehdi Army militia of radical Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr, said military operations "against Polish and Bulgarian forces stationed here will be ceased until Monday at midnight (20:00 GMT)."

Religious commemoration

Tai said the truce was called to allow for the Arbaeen religious commemoration in Karbala, but the coalition nonetheless warned thousands of pilgrims flocking to Karbala to be alert for terror attacks.

A senior member of the Iraqi Islamic Party, Alaa Makki, earlier said the insurgents in Fallujah had given mediators "a series of conditions for the cease-fire, including a pullout of US forces from Fallujah into the surrounding desert.

"They did not give a specific area for the pullout, but logically it would be around five kilometres," he said.

"They also asked for opening the entrances to the city to allow people as well as food and medical supply to enter easily and for people to bury their dead," he said.

The coalition has "asked for a cease-fire, for handing over those who took part in the mutilation and repeated riots."

Demands logical

"The demands of the two parties are logical and should be easy to satisfy," said Makki.

In Baghdad, meanwhile, there were heavy exchanges of fire between US troops and insurgents in the Sunni Muslim district of Aadhamiya. US troops cordoned off the entire neighbourhood after explosions were heard around a former presidential palace used as a US military base.

Eleven 11 Iraqis, including a police officer, were reportedly killed in Baaquba, north of Baghdad, in clashes between US forces and insurgents.

Edited by Noeleen Vorster

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