A tentative truce is holding in the Iraqi town of Falluja as talks continue to try to end a week of clashes between US forces and Sunni insurgents. There have been sporadic exchanges of gunfire.
The US military said it had unilaterally suspended offensive operations and offered an unconditional ceasefire. However, US officials have warned that a military offensive will be resumed if talks fail.
It looks likely that negotiations between mediators from the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council and the insurgents will now continue overnight.
The US is demanding that those responsible for the killing and mutilation of four Coalition contractors in Falluja must be handed over for prosecution.
It is reported that a hospital official said 600 Iraqis have been killed in the fighting between US forces and Sunni insurgents in the past week. Thousands of local residents have been leaving the city to escape the fighting.
A ceasefire agreed for this morning had appeared to be holding but street clashes have seen two marines wounded and an Iraqi killed.
Elsewhere in Iraq, two crew members of a US Apache helicopter were killed when it was shot down three miles west of Baghdad airport.
