Firefight strains truce in Fallujah

Iraqis are still trying to negotiate a resolution.
FALLUJAH, Iraq (AP) -- U.S. warplanes and helicopter gunships firing heavy machine-guns, rockets and cannons hammered gunmen as a truce in besieged Fallujah was strained by increasingly intense battles. With more troops killed, April became the deadliest month for American forces since they set foot in Iraq.
Elsewhere, a 2,500-strong U.S. force massed on the outskirts of the Shiite holy city Najaf for a showdown with a radical cleric, raising fears of a U.S. attack on the city that would outrage the nation's relatively pro-U.S. Shiite majority.
Russia announced that it will evacuate its citizens from Iraq after a spate of kidnappings of at least 22 foreigners that erupted with the violence this month.
U.S. troops were holding back their full firepower on both fronts to allow Iraqis to try to negotiate a resolution, but President Bush said he was prepared to send more troops and had told his commanders to be ready to use "decisive force."
Deadliest month
With the announcement of the deaths of four more Marines, April became the deadliest month for the U.S. military in Iraq -- deadlier even than the invasion launched in March 2003. At least 87 troops have been reported killed in action in less than two weeks. Previously, November had seen the most deaths, 82.
Some 880 Iraqis have been killed this month. Among those are more than 600 Iraqis -- mostly civilians -- killed in Fallujah, according to the city hospital's director.
A U.S. Cobra attack helicopter fired rockets and heavy machine-guns before dawn today at gunmen gathered on the northern edge of the city of Fallujah. Rocket-propelled grenades arched up from the ground toward the helicopter and a second gunship providing support, but none apparently hit the gunships.
Early today, A-130 gunships pounded a row of buildings from which Marines say ambushes have repeatedly been launched in a residential area of the city.
A day earlier, Marines came under two heavy ambushes, the best coordinated and largest guerrilla operations in days, said Capt. James Edge. Two Marines were killed Tuesday and two Monday, the military announced.
"I think they are absolutely taking advantage" of the truce, said Lt. Col. Brennan Byrne, commander of the 1st Battalion, 5th Regiment, deployed on the southern side of the city.
Marines attacked
A force of 20 insurgents attacked a Marine position in a residential neighborhood, then damaged an armored vehicle that came to support it, Edge said.
Outside the city, an MH-53 Pave Low helicopter -- used to ferry special operations soldiers and large enough to carry 38 troops plus a crew of six -- was hit by ground fire early Tuesday. A Marine team that came to secure it was ambushed and suffered casualties.
The Marines called a halt to offensive operations Friday to allow negotiations between U.S.-allied Iraqis and Fallujah representatives in an attempt to ease the violence. Gunmen in the city called a cease-fire Sunday. But Marines have been responding to guerrilla fire -- and striking gunmen who appear about to attack.
Price on his head
Insurgents today offered the Iraqi equivalent of $7,000 for anyone who kills Mouwafak al-Rubaie, the Iraqi national security adviser, after he called for Fallujah's residents to hand over militants to the United States.
"We announce a bounty of 10 million Iraqi dinar for whoever brings the head of this pig," the statement said.
Two masked militants gave the statement to an Associated Press photographer at the scene of an insurgent attack on an oil tanker near Baghdad International Airport. The tanker blazed nearby as the gunmen handed over the statement.
In the south, Iraqi politicians and ayatollahs tried to negotiate a solution to avert a U.S. attack on the city of Najaf, home to one of Shiite Islam's holiest shrines.
A vehemently anti-U.S. cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, was holed up in his office in Najaf, shielded not only by gunmen but also by the presence of the city's main shrine only yards away. He vowed to continue what he called "a popular revolution" to end the U.S. occupation of Iraq.
"I fear only God. I am ready to sacrifice my blood for this country. But I call on the Iraqi people not to let my killing put an end to their rejection of the [U.S.] occupation," al-Sadr told Lebanon's Al-Manar television station.
U.S. commanders vowed to kill or capture al-Sadr, though officials suggested they would give negotiations a chance.
"The target is not Najaf. The target is Muqtada al-Sadr and his militia," said Brig. Mark Kimmitt, deputy head of U.S. military operations in Iraq. "We will hunt him down and destroy him. We would prefer it not in Najaf or Karbala. We have very great respect for the shrines, for the Shiites."
Battle fronts
The U.S. military has been fighting on several fronts across Iraq this month -- against al-Sadr's militia in the south, against Sunni insurgents in the central city of Fallujah, as well as increased violence in Baghdad and elsewhere.
The U.S. State Department confirmed Tuesday that four bodies have been found in Iraq, possibly the remains of private contractors missing since an assault on their convoy outside Baghdad.
The identities and nationalities of the victims were unknown, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
More abductions
Meanwhile Tuesday, a French journalist and four Italians working as private guards were reported abducted.
An AP tally shows that 22 hostages are being held, including three Japanese whose captors have threatened to kill them. At least 35 others had been taken hostage and released. Nine Americans, including two soldiers, were missing.
Russia will begin evacuating some 800 of its citizens and citizens from the Commonwealth of Independent States from Iraq on Thursday, the Emergency Situations Ministry announced today. France is also urging its citizens to leave Iraq.