The death toll in Iraq after almost two weeks of heavy fighting continued to rise yesterday with the US military saying some 700 Iraqis and 70 coalition soldiers have been killed. Lara Marlowe in Baghdad reports
Rhetoric from the US military last night did not suggest that the fighting would end soon as they vowed to "kill or capture" the radical Shia cleric who led an uprising against the occupation authorities, despite warnings that it would unleash yet more violent unrest.
"The mission of US forces is to kill or capture Moqtada al-Sadr," said Lieut Gen Ricardo Sanchez, America's most senior general in Iraq.
His threat comes despite efforts by leading Iraqi politicians to negotiate a deal between the authorities and Moqtada al-Sadr (30) whose forces in the past week have led rebellions in Baghdad and towns across southern Iraq.
As President Bush prepares to address the American public tonight on the situation in Iraq, the US authorities are also faced with a serious hostage crisis.
Seven US civilian contractors and two US military personnel were confirmed missing, believed kidnapped, yesterday. Kidnappers have threatened to kill an American named Thomas Hamill if the US does not end its siege of Falluja.
Dozens of security contractors, perceived by Iraqis to be mercenaries for occupation forces, are believed to have died over the past week, though the US military has not announced their deaths.
The Romanian foreign ministry yesterday confirmed that a Romanian guard was killed and another wounded in an ambush. Romania, a new NATO member, has sent 700 troops to Iraq.
There were reports last night that seven Chinese hostages taken on Sunday had been released. The Chinese were kidnapped on the Amman-Baghdad highway near Falluja. China has no troops in Iraq, and it is not clear why the Chinese were here.
Kidnappers freed a group of Turkish, Pakistani, Indian, Nepalese and Filipino truck drivers after they promised never to work for occupation forces again.
Two Czech journalists were reported kidnapped and last night a negotiator said the abductors holding three Japanese hostages since last Thursday have agreed not to kill them. They had threatened to burn them alive if Japan did not withdraw its troops from Iraq.
The abductions have sent a wave of panic through foreigners in Iraq. The Royal Jordanian airline office was packed with contractors and journalists desperate to obtain seats on flights to Amman, because the highway is not safe.
In Falluja, where more than 600 people died in a week-long US offensive, a tentative truce seemed to be holding while negotiations continued.
US Marines were ready to "complete the destruction of enemy forces" in the town west of Baghdad, US Brig Gen Mark Kimmitt said.