That relative calm, however, is disrupted by a sudden surge in violence sparked by the American-led assault on Falluja.

A1 Three British soldiers whose regiment had just moved north to support an expected American-led assault on Falluja were killed in a suicide bombing.

Military programs for disbursing aid and restoring infrastructure have bogged down in other cities, like Najaf, where American-led assaults caused huge damage.

One of them, Muhammad al-Mehimmadi, took a break from the fighting on Sunday and spoke with fervor about resisting an American-led assault.

More recently, other residents decided to leave amid rumors of an American-led assault.

A specific concern for him and others in any American-led assault is its size, which is likely to be large and ambitious.

He said Iraq needed "strong leadership" of the kind he gave in approving the American-led assault on Falluja.

The American-led assault, United Nations officials say, could force another 1.5 million people over the borders with Pakistan and Iran, many of them starving.

He said he did not believe that Osama bin Laden or any other senior member of either group were in the valley during the American-led assault.

The Saad 16 complex was a key target of allied bombing raids in 1991 in the American-led assault to drive Iraqi forces from Kuwait.