Al-Sadr agrees to talks with U.S.

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BAGHDAD -- Shi'ite cleric Sheik Muqtada al-Sadr agreed yesterday to unconditional talks over his standoff with American forces that threatens to spark open warfare against the U.S.-led coalition in both southern Iraq and much of Baghdad.

Separately, kidnappings of Westerners sparked by the recent fighting in the Sunni Muslim city of Fallujah took an ugly turn when Al Jazeera television announced that it has video footage of a hostage being executed. The hostage was one of four Italians working for a U.S. security firm. Al Jazeera said it would not broadcast the film.

U.S. Marines with fresh reinforcements fought a series of ferocious battles in Fallujah, 30 miles west of Baghdad, as the United Nations called for a peaceful end to the conflict.

U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, visiting Baghdad to help determine how and when elections can be held, said the violence threatens to delay voting for a national assembly that will pick the president and write a constitution.

"The elections scheduled to take place in January 2005 are the most important milestone," Mr. Brahimi said. "There is no substitute for the legitimacy that comes from free and fair elections."

He recommended that the coalition dissolve the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council and hand over sovereignty to a caretaker government led by a president, two vice presidents and a prime minister when the occupation formally ends June 30.

The caretaker government would administer the country until elections, which, under the recommendation, would be held no later than Jan. 31. Washington, which is under growing pressure from other coalition members to give the United Nations a greater role in Iraq, reportedly favors expanding the present Governing Council.

Amid talk of peace in Baghdad, Marines under fire in Fallujah called in air support from helicopters and fighter jets.

The Marines control about one-fourth of the city, their plans for advancing halted by a Friday cease-fire and negotiations between clerics in the city and officials from the Governing Council.

The Associated Press reported yesterday that four more Marines had died, bringing the number of American combat deaths to at least 87 this month, surpassing the highest total for any month since the March 20, 2003, invasion to topple Saddam Hussein began.