Fallujah rebels 'have days to give up arms'

GUERRILLAS and residents in Fallujah have "days, not weeks" to turn in heavy weapons, the top US Marine commander in Iraq said yesterday, warning an American push to take the city could be costly for both sides.

The stark warning by Lieutenant General James Conway came two days after city leaders called on insurgents to hand over their heavy weapons in return for a US pledge to hold back on plans to storm the city and allow the return of families that fled the city.

The few arms that have been surrendered so far were "junk", Marine commanders said including "" inert grenades, 100 rusted mortar shells, dud rockets and unusable guns.

In Baghdad, meanwhile, a foreigner was killed yesterday and his Iraqi translator wounded by gunmen who opened fire on their vehicle. The victim's nationality was not immediately known. The shooting took place in the northern neighbourhood of Azimiyah, where gunmen have been active in past weeks.

Increasing violence has caused the German engineering giant Siemens AG to pull its employees out of Iraq, and US-based General Electric has suspended some of its operations.

Iraqi Electricity Minister Ayham Al-Samarei said Siemens, which was helping repair Iraq's damaged stations, was to finish its projects by May 15, and much of the work was complete.

The upswing in violence has made April the bloodiest month for the US-led military since the invasion of Iraq. At least 100 soldiers and five American civilian contractors have been killed. Dozens of foreigners have been abducted in a wave of kidnappings, with about 15 still captive.

New figures for the Iraqi casualty toll from this month's fighting emerged yesterday, with the health minister saying 576 Iraqi insurgents and civilians had died in fighting since April 1 sharply lower than earlier estimates.

A spokesman for British forces responsible for the southern Iraqi city of Basra has lowered the reported death toll to 50 from a series of suicide bombings there on Wednesday.

The spokesman, Captain Hisham Halawi, said a check with hospitals showed 50 dead, 20 of them children. Earlier reports had said 68 people died.

It was still too early to say who was behind the Basra attacks, Mr Halawi said.

"We can't discount al-Qaida, we can't discount former regime loyalists," he said.