Iraqi fighters wave their national in front of a burning U.S. military tanker in Fallujah (AFP)

Additional reporting by Aws Al-Sharqi, IOL Correspondent

FALLUJAH, Iraq, April 10 (IslamOnlin.net & News Agencies) – U.S. occupation troops resumed Saturday, April 10, a barbaric offensive into this Iraqi town, 50 kilometres west of Baghdad, while proposing a “bilateral” ceasefire with Iraqi fighters in the bastion of resistance. 

The U.S. proposal came as the Kufa leader of Mahdi Army of Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr declared Saturday a ceasefire until the Shiites mark the religious festival of Arbain Al-Hussein, the end of the period of mourning for the grandson of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

Despite the talk of ceasefire, al-Jazeera correspondent in Fallujah said F-16s have been shelling densely-populated areas in the town for the seventh consecutive day as artillery rained its mortars, killing and injuring unspecific number of civilians.

Al-Jazeera staff also came under fire. There is not word yet about casualties.

The U.S. occupation army has asked the Doha-based newscaster, the only media outlet in the town, to leave the besieged town as one of conditions to settle the crisis. 

In the meantime, steadfast Iraqi fighters continued Friday and Saturday their resistance attacks on U.S.-led occupation troops across the country.

In Baghdad, a U.S. Abrams tank and a trailer truck were on fire after two separate attacks near Baghdad airport, an Agence France-Presse (AFP) photographer on the scene said.

The tank was left burning at the Al-Aadel crossroad on the way to the airport, he said. U.S. troops cordoned off the area, preventing journalists from approaching.

Nearby, a trailer truck, which was part of a U.S. military convoy, was hit earlier Saturday by a rocket-propelled grenade, witnesses said.

Insurgents fired into the air to prevent firefighters from extinguishing the blaze, the witnesses said.

In Kufa to the south, fighters from Mahdi Army of Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr shot down Friday, April 9, a U.S. helicopter, sources told IslamOnline.net.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell admitted Friday in a televised interview that the United States had experienced a “tough week” in Iraq.

“It's been a tough week, let's be clear about that,” Powell told the Fox News channel.

‘Bilateral Ceasefire’

“Today what we are seeking is a bilateral cease-fire,” Kimmitt (AFP)

Meanwhile, the deputy director of U.S. military operation in occupied-Iraq, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, proposed Saturday at a press conference a “bilateral ceasefire”.

“Today what we are seeking is a bilateral cease-fire,” starting at 8:00 GMT, he told reporters in Baghdad.  “This is an aspiration,” he added.

He hoped to “get this message to the enemy through this press conference so they can join the ceasefire”.

Faced with mounting popular anger over heavy civilian casualties and heavy-handed approach, U.S. occupation overseer in Iraq announced Friday a unilateral suspension of the six-day-old offensive to allow for the delivery of food and medical supplies to residents.

But the initiative was short-lived. The suspension of offensive operations lasted for only 90 minutes. 

Fallujah residents seized on the brief pause and started to flee the war-torn city, an AFP correspondent witnessed. 

Men, women and children were fleeing on foot through backstreets and paths that cut through fields, and were being allowed to pass by U.S. Marines. 

Iraqi fighters controlled the highway between Abu Gharib and the entrance of Fallujah and hundreds of them armed with rocket-propelled grenades and Kalashnikov assault rifles were hiding along the road. 

The bloody offensive has killed so far 450 Iraqis and injured up to one thousand, according to al-Jazeera tally. 

Sunni and Shiite leaders called Friday for joining forces to expel occupation forces – exactly one year since the U.S.-British soldiers seized the oil-rich country. 

Shiite Ceasefire 

Meanwhile, Hamza Al-Ta’I, the Kufa leader of Mahdi Army of Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr, declared Saturday a ceasefire until the Shiites mark the religious festival of Arbain Al-Hussein Sunday, April 11. 

Thousands of Shiites have come all the way from across the country on foot to mark the religious occasion in defiance of the military juggernaut of the U.S.-led occupation forces. 

“The occupation will never break our staunch will and stiff resistance,” sheikh Kazem Jawad Al-Amari told IOL. 

“We are now more determined to stand up to the enemies of Islam and the Prophet. Winning martyrdom is the one and only solution to every Muslim (in Iraq).” 

IOL correspondent in the holy southern city of An-Najaf tried to make an interview with the young Shiite leader Sadr, who observes a sit-in in the mausoleum of Imam Ali in the city, but in vain. 

A top aide to Sadr said the Shiite scholar do not make any press statements at such hard times, noting that many Arab satellite channels had also tried. 

Sadr’s spokesman Qais Al-Khazali told IOL that Mahdi Army would stand firmly in the face of the U.S.-led occupation forces. 

Asked about the U.S. plots to assassinate Sadr, Khazali said all Sadr’s supporters are resolved to abort such “mischievous schemes and dreams”. 

“We know that the American scenario is aimed at assassinating Sadr in confrontations and pressuring Shiite spiritual leader Ayatollay Alil As-Sistani to calm down the running tensions,” he said. 

Amid incessant clashes with Shiites in several Iraqi towns which claimed more innocent lives, the U.S.-led occupation authorities vowed Wednesday, April 7, to annihilate Sadr’s Mahdi Army. 

The U.S. occupation authorities said Tuesday, April 6, they had an arrest warrant  for Sadr, alleging he was involved in the murder of Shiite leader Abdel Majid Al-Khoei last April. 

Sadr, who urged his supporters Sunday to “terrorize the enemy”  as demonstrations were now pointless, ended his sit-in Tuesday in Kufa and moved to An-Najaf to turn off bloodshed.