Former Saddam general takes over in Fallujah

Iraqi security forces, commanded by a former general in Saddam Hussein’s once feared Republican Guard, took over positions from withdrawing US marines around besieged Fallujah today.

A US official said an agreement had been reached to allow an Iraqi security force to patrol the city and end the month long siege.

Skirmishes continued in Fallujah, however, and a suicide car bombing killed two marines and wounded six near their camp on the outskirts of the Sunni the city, the military said.

Members of the 1,100 member force moved into the former marine positions in south-eastern Fallujah and raised the Iraqi flag.

Military spokesman Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt said the Marines were “repositioning” their forces and would continue to maintain a strong presence in and around Fallujah.

Negotiations were also taking place in the southern city of Najaf, where tribal leaders and police discussed a proposal to end a stand-off between soldiers and militiamen loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

In a sermon, al-Sadr remained defiant, saying he rejected “any appeasement with the occupation.”

Meanwhile, an Iraqi police colonel, Ahmad al-Khazraji, was shot dead last night in Baghdad.

The body of a Baghdad area council member was found hanging with a sign on his chest that said ”al-Mahdi Army business,” a reference to al-Sadr’s militia.

“It appears he had been beaten, tortured and hung,” Kimmitt said.

Kimmitt said the new Iraqi force will be ”completely integrated” with marines. He insisted that the marines were not “withdrawing” from the city.

Convoys of troops and equipment could be seen heading out of the area today.

The commander of the new force is Major General Jassim Mohammed Saleh, a veteran of Saddam Hussein’s elite Republican Guard.

He shook hands with Marine commanders at a post on the south-eastern entry to the city.

Kimmitt said he had no information on Saleh’s background, but that the commander had been vetted by the marines who had full confidence in him.

A former general in the Iraqi army, Mohammed al-Askari, said Saleh served in the Republican Guards in the 1980s.

He later commanded an Iraqi army division and headed the army’s infantry forces.

The Iraqi force will be all volunteer and will consist of former Iraqi soldiers from the Fallujah area who are vetted by US authorities.