IRAQ Hot spots Fallujah and Najaf appear to be quiet

So far this month, around 1,100 Iraqis and 99 U.S. troops have been killed.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Iraq's two main guerrilla fronts appeared "eerily quiet" today, the U.S. military said, as residents of besieged Fallujah left their homes to shop and a rebel Shiite Muslim militia stuck to a cease-fire it called in the south.
Spain's new foreign minister, meanwhile, said his country's plans to withdraw its troops from Iraq should not harm its long-term relations with the United States.
Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos also said the government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero will honor Spain's pledges at the recent Iraq Donor's Conference and help in Iraq's reconstruction and transition to democracy.
"We're not washing our hands" of the situation, Moratinos said in an interview today in the El Pais newspaper.
On Sunday, the top U.S. administrator in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, insisted that the threat of insurgents who want to "shoot their way to power" must be stopped. He said Iraqi security forces were not up to the job and defended the continued heavy presence of U.S. troops even after an Iraqi government takes over June 30.
Quiet in Fallujah
In Fallujah, once-incessant gunfire has given way to quiet amid two days of direct negotiations between the Americans and Fallujah leaders. An Iraqi delegation entered Fallujah for new talks today, in which the Americans did not appear to be participating.
"There seems to be a serious attempt by the people of Fallujah to get their house in order," Marine Lt. Col. Brennan Byrne said.
The Army, meanwhile, said it was in no hurry to take the southern city of Najaf from Shiite followers of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The Army was beginning to rotate 2,500 soldiers from their position outside Najaf, replacing them with 2,000 seasoned troops from the force that has been occupying Baghdad for nearly a year.
Al-Sadr called a two-day cease-fire Sunday to mark the anniversary of the death of the prophet Muhammad. He also ordered a halt in all attacks on Spanish troops based in Najaf after Spain's prime minister decided to withdraw his country's forces from the country as soon as possible.
Al-Sadr's office called on Iraqis to "maintain the safety of the Spanish forces until their return home" and urged "the governments of the other armies taking part in Iraq's occupation to follow the Spanish government's example."
Death toll
As many as 40 Iraqi fighters have been killed in almost a week of skirmishes on the outskirts of Najaf, Army Col. Dana J.H. Pittard said. No Americans have been killed in the fighting, but four have died in attacks on convoys in the area since the 2,500-member task force deployed Tuesday.
Army shelling near the restive town of Baqouba on Sunday night killed a family of four, when artillery pounded their farmhouse, said Nasir Kadhim, the mortuary director at Baqouba hospital.
At least 40 more Iraqis were killed over the weekend -- mostly in fighting near the Syrian border -- bringing the Iraqi death toll in April to around 1,100, including civilians, insurgents and police.
The weekend's fighting pushed the April death toll for American troops to at least 99 killed in action. It has been the deadliest month since the U.S.-led invasion began in March 2003.
Until now, the single-month record for U.S. troops killed was 82, in November. Around 700 U.S. servicemen have died in Iraq.
On Saturday, five Marines and five soldiers were killed in combat.
Waiting in Najaf
Pittard, the commander of U.S. Army forces encircling Najaf, said al-Sadr's militia -- along with other insurgents -- "has for the most part been contained in Najaf."
He said the Army was in no rush to take the Shiite holy city while negotiations with the rebels continued.
"We can wait," Pittard said. "They will still be there. Ultimately we still want Iraqis to solve this problem."
The Spanish military compound in the holy city's center -- which had been undergoing regular mortar and rocket attacks -- reported that Sunday night was "oddly quiet."
Pittard said his task force would begin returning to its previous zone northeast of Baghdad on Tuesday.
In Fallujah today, Byrne, the Marine battalion commander, said the western city remained "eerily quiet" for the second straight day.
Bremer's contention
In an unusually blunt speech in Baghdad on Sunday, Bremer said the recent surge in fighting shows that Iraq's beleaguered security forces "need outside help" to fight anti-U.S. guerrillas here.
"Early this month, the foes of democracy overran Iraqi police stations and seized public buildings in several parts of the country," he said. "Iraqi forces were unable to stop them."
In other developments:
*In the northern city of Kirkuk, U.S. troops detained a Shiite member of the city council, Yousr Mahdi Jumaa, accusing him of being a member of al-Sadr's militia, city council president Tahsin Kahya said. Jumaa's followers denied the allegations.
*Iraq's defense minister -- Ali Allawi, a Shiite -- appointed by U.S. officials two weeks ago, announced his three top generals, a Kurd, a Sunni and a Shiite, are establishing representatives of the country's three main communities in the senior defense positions.
*A mortar shell landed in a garden near the Swedish Embassy in central Baghdad today, causing an echoing explosion. No one was hurt, Iraqi police said.