An Iraqi man walks across a field turned into a mass grave for Fallujah victims (AFP)

Additional Reporting By Aws Al-Sharqi, IOL Correspondent

FALLUJAH, Iraq, April 12 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The U.S.-led occupation troops and Iraqi resistance fighters agreed Monday, April 12, to extend an interim ceasefire started at 06:00 GMT Sunday in the restive town of Fallujah.

Three more U.S. Marines were killed Sunday west of Baghdad, bringing the total number of U.S. troops killed since Friday, April 9, to 19.

“The ceasefire was extended by 24 hours last night, so it is supposed to last until Monday evening,” Alaa Makki, a senior member of the Iraqi Islamic Party which was leading the mediation effort, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

More than 600 Iraqis have been killed and 1,250 wounded in the week-long U.S. offensive against the restive town of Fallujah, Makki told AFP, citing hospital sources.

The ceasefire in Fallujah dramatically reduced the fighting. An AFP correspondent embedded with U.S. marines said the town was calm Monday morning.

No mortar fire or explosion were heard overnight, he said.

Al-Jazeera satellite channel said some U.S. military vehicles have started pulling out to the town’s peripheries, signaling a possible withdrawal from the conflictive town.

Fallujah residents insist that only Iraqi police and civil defense crops would maintain security in the town if the occupation troops withdrew, the Doha-based newscaster reported.

On Sunday, Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, deputy director of U.S. occupation operations, said that U.S.-led forces were “making progress in moving the political process forward”.

Faced with stiff Iraqi resistance and mounting popular resentment, the U.S. occupation troops and Iraqi fighters in Fallujah reached Sunday the 12-hour ceasefire.

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.

More Marines Killed

Iraqi Shiites pray at the mosque of Imam Al-Hussein in Karbala

Meanwhile, U.S. occupation forces suffered more losses, with three marines killed in clashes with resistance fighters Sunday in Al-Anbar, the province west of Baghdad which includes Fallujah.

Two of the Marines were killed in fighting, while the third died of his wounds later in the day, CNN reported.

Earlier Sunday, two crew members of an Apache attack helicopter died when they were shot down by surface-to-air missile fire, west of Baghdad International Airport.

The deaths brought the total number of U.S. troops killed since Friday to 19, according to figures released Monday by the occupation information center.

At least 60 Americans have lost their lives in Iraq over the past week alone, taking to 667 the number of U.S. military deaths since the start of the war to occupy oil-rich Iraq.

Calm South

In the south of Iraq, calm was the prevailing feature Monday, where Shiites have sparked a public uprising against the U.S. occupation last Sunday.

The Shiite religious occasion “Arabeen Al-Hussein”, the end of the period of mourning for Imam Al-Hussein the grandson of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), ended peacefully Monday in Karbala as up to one million Shiites descended on the city over the past three days.

Shiite scholars delivered fiery sermons, urging all Iraqis to act in unison and expel the occupation.

Karbala Governor Saad Safwat Al-Masoudi paid tribute to the earnest efforts made over the past three days by Shiite leaders and scholars and Karbala police.

“All people here joined hands in securing the festival and providing services to the visitors,” he told IslamOnline.net.

Hamza Al-Ta’I, the Kufa leader of Mahdi Army of Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr, declared Saturday, April 10, a ceasefire until the Shiites mark the religious occasion.

In the holy city of An-Najaf, Iraqi police deployed Monday following an agreement, involving the U.S.-led occupation, for the pullout of Mahdi Army militiamen from the streets, police said.

Under the terms of the agreement, occupation troops will not enter the city, which will be under Iraqi security control, according to police sources..

They added the agreement was reached after mediation by the Dawa party, a mainstream Shiite religious faction, and Abdel Karim Al-Mohamadawi, a former member of the occupation-installed interim Governing Council who resigned last week.

An AFP correspondent in Najaf said police deployed in force in the city, taking over police stations and public buildings. He saw no Mahdi Army fighters on the streets.