A Soldiers Blog

FALLUJAH, Iraq, Oct 15 (AFP) - US troops arrested on Friday a senior member of a delegation from the rebel Iraqi city of Fallujah that had been mediating a truce with the government, one of his colleagues said.

"They arrested him (Sheikh Khaled Hamoud) after Friday prayers at a mosque in the village of Albu-Issa outside Fallujah," Sheikh Abdul Hamid Jadu told AFP.

Jadu said he and Hamoud were together in Baghdad on Wednesday meeting members of the interim government before Prime Minister Iyad Allawi surprised them with his demand that they hand over the alleged Al-Qaeda leader in Iraq, Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, or face an invasion.

Before his arrest, Hamoud had said the delegation was close to working out a deal that would allow Iraqi forces back to the city and extend amnesty to some elements of the insurgency.

US troops arrest Iraqi cleric involved in Fallujah truce talks