New commander for Falluja force

Iraqi generals are trusted by the locals more than coalition troops

A new Iraqi general opposed to Saddam Hussein will take command of security forces in the city of Falluja.

Mohammed Latif will replace Gen Jasim Saleh, US military spokesman Patrick Carroll told the BBC Arabic Service.

Gen Saleh - who took control of the city on Friday - will be deputy of the Falluja Brigade, the spokesman said.

On Sunday, America's top soldier said he didn't believe Gen Saleh - formerly part of Saddam Hussein's elite troops - would pass the vetting process.

Doctors in Falluja say at least 600 people were killed and thousands fled during the US siege which began on 5 April.

Falluja - in the so-called Sunni triangle - has spearheaded opposition to the US-led occupation of Iraq.

US forces have also been engaged in a stand-off in the holy city of Najaf south of Baghdad with Shia Muslims loyal to radical cleric Moqtada Sadr.

US troops and militants traded fire on the outskirts of the city on Monday in a confrontation that left at least one Iraqi killed and several wounded.

Vetting

Gen Saleh led his men into Falluja on Friday night after US forces pulled back, following weeks of bloody fighting in and around the Sunni city of 300,000.

Up to 600 Iraqis may have died in three weeks of fighting

Iraqi opponents of Saddam Hussein voiced outrage at the appointment of a former general in the once feared Republican Guard, which he denies.

Interim Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said the Iraqi Governing Council had asked the US not to name Gen Saleh, "given he had taken part in suppressing the 1991 uprising" of Shia Muslims against the Iraqi regime.

"The Council does not object to the nomination of Gen Mohammed Latif," Mr Zebari said, quoted by French news agency AFP.

The decision to appoint Gen Latif follows discussions with community leaders in Falluja and senior American marine officers based just outside the city.

Local commanders may have had second thoughts about Gen Saleh, but senior officials at the Pentagon may also have asked them to think again says the BBC's Nick Childs at the US defence department.

Our correspondent says the Pentagon may have given commanders on the ground a lot of leeway to resolve the stand-off quickly but, with Falluja having acquired such a critical importance, senior US officials are anxious about how such a deal is to be perceived.

Gen Latif appears to have anti-Saddam credentials.

An intelligence officer, trained in Britain, Mr Latif spent years in the prisons of the former regime, Iraq's foreign minister said.

However, unlike Gen Saleh, he is from Baghdad - not Falluja - and doubts remain over his support among the locals in the restive city, correspondents say.