Nine Americans missing in Iraq

BAGHDAD — Nine Americans, including two soldiers, are missing in Iraq in a hostage-taking spree in which suspected Islamist militants have seized more than 40 foreigners in a bid to undermine the U.S.-led reconstruction effort.

The road to Baghdad International Airport remained closed yesterday for the second straight day amid a series of attacks on cars and convoys to and from the facility. Long lines formed at ticket counters for the limited number of commercial flights in and out of Iraq.

The security deteriorated even as clerics, sheiks and U.S.-appointed Iraqi officials continued talks to try to keep a shaky truce from crumbling in the Sunni Muslim city of Fallujah, about 35 miles outside the capital, Baghdad.

Marines reinforced positions for an all-out push in Fallujah if the negotiations fail.

At least a third of Fallujah’s population of 200,000 has fled, and mosques in Baghdad filled up with offers from families to take in strangers from the violence-torn city.

However, not all the news was bad.

A Shi’ite Muslim cleric agreed to withdraw his military from police stations and public buildings as the U.S. military prepared to strike, as it had done in Fallujah eight days ago.

Fallujah remained relatively quiet. But snipers continued trying to pick off Marines after a week of ferocious firefights.

The city, known for its many mosques, which have become fortresses for armed fighters in the latest clashes, features densely packed residential neighborhoods with narrow, winding alleys.

The United States said 70 Americans had died in fighting since the beginning of April, and that at least 10 times as many Iraqis had died in that period, the biggest total since the fall of Baghdad a year ago.

President Bush tried to prepare the American people for more casualties as the June 30 deadline approaches for the turnover of sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government.

“It was a tough week last week, and my prayers and thoughts are with those who pay the ultimate price for our security,” Mr. Bush said.

Gen. John Abizaid, head of U.S. Central Command, said he had asked the Pentagon for two more “strong and mobile” brigades to be sent to Iraq.

U.S. forces, who have struggled for months to quell a rebellion in the so-called Sunni Triangle, face a second revolt led by radical cleric Sheik Muqtada al-Sadr in the Shi’ite south.

“The mission of U.S. forces is to kill or capture Muqtada al-Sadr,” said Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of the American forces in Iraq.

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