US trying to negotiate Fallujah truce

EXPLOSIONS shook a riverbank as American soldiers battled Shi’ite militiamen outside the southern city of Kufa yesterday.

The fighting came as the US military held its first direct negotiations in an attempt to end fighting in Fallujah.

The military said US soldiers fought back after they were attacked by supporters of a radical cleric near Kufa, which neighbours the holy city of Najaf. Some 2,500 US soldiers are deployed outside Najaf to kill or capture Moqtada al-Sadr and dismantle his al-Mahdi Army militia.