Opposite him was his son Othman, eight, whose face had been horribly disfigured and left hand rendered useless by the blast.

"We thought we would be safe in Na'amiya," said Mr Abbas. "We were sleeping outside on the ground when the planes and helicopters came. It was 2am. My son wanted to become a surgeon, but now that can never be. They even prevented us evacuating the wounded. It was hours before we could get Othman out."

The only words his son had spoken since he was so badly injured, he said, were "I hate the Americans". As Othman stared blankly at the ceiling, his father said he wanted the Americans to pay for what they had done.

"Fallujah will be their Stalingrad. The Euphrates will be a river of their blood. Now the resistance is spreading all over Iraq and everyone is coming to Fallujah to help us. It will not be conquered."

A spokesman for an Iraqi delegation from the violence-gripped city of Fallujah on Monday accused US troops of using internationally banned cluster bombs against the city and said they had asked the United Nations to mediate the conflict.

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The Iraqi delegation has been lobbying in the Jordanian capital for international pressure on the Americans to abide by a cease-fire in the battle-scarred city.

Tareq said the delegation had also sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan asking the UN to mediate "to guarantee the commitment of the United States to its promises."

"The citizens of Fallujah love peace and hate terrorism, that is why we knocked on the doors of the United Nations," Tareq said.

The ceasefire brokered by Iraqi mediators in the Iraqi city of Falluja appears to have weakened the fighters battling US marines while also creating divisions within the Sunni Muslim community.

The fighters have been trapped by the US siege in the flashpoint city west of Baghdad for the past three weeks, after having initially succeeded in winning national support for their cause.

"The city has been completely surrounded for the past 10 days and the fighters are trapped inside and cannot leave," said one local tribal chief, Mansur al-Hadithi, who is sympathetic to the resistance.

"Most of these fighters are from Falluja and determined to defend their city in case of an attack," he said.

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"The Americans are deluding themselves if they think they can subdue Iraqis by force or through bribery. When an Iraqi is humiliated, he rebels," said Muhammad Hamadani, a Falluja official.

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He said the deal includes a ban on carrying weapons starting on Tuesday and the start of joint patrols by Iraqi police, para-military Iraqi Civil Defence Corps forces and occupation troops in the city on the same day.

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The lifting of the Marines' siege is the key demand of Falluja residents who face shortages of fuel and bread.

Meanwhile, the local council has appealed to the United Nations to investigate allegations of war crimes by American forces.

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American troops in Falluja are training Iraqi personnel for joint patrols in the city, and are no longer saying they are ready for an imminent attack on the city.

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At a meeting with UN officials in Jordan, members of Falluja's council said American forces had used cluster bombs against civilians there, and their snipers had shot dead non-combatants during the recent truce.

They also called for UN mediation in talks with the Americans aimed at ending the fighting.

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US military officials have described the US operation in Falluja as "humane" and say they "do everything possible to protect non-combatants". But they say insurgents' tactics are increasing the risks for civilians.

Marines were fired on from a mosque which was then targeted by US forces and the minaret destroyed, an embedded pool reporter with the marines told CNN. He said another six marines were injured by shrapnel but the reports could not be immediately confirmed.

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The top Iraqi security official said foreign prisoners, including Turks, Syrians and Moroccans, had admitted they were paid to conduct attacks against coalition troops and Iraqis.

"They confessed in clear Arabic that they have come to Iraq to carry out attacks and terrorist operations," Muwaffaq al-Rubaie, newly appointed national security advisor, told reporters.

Many Iraqis now criticize the Americans for what they say is an excessive use of force, especially in Falluja, where hundreds of families have been forced to flee. People here and in Washington fear uprisings could explode across Iraq if the military were to invade Falluja or Najaf.

But military officials have now backed off any suggestion that an attack on Falluja is imminent and have said they will give advance warning to all noncombatants to leave if an invasion is ordered.

American officials and an Iraqi negotiator said an agreement was reached Saturday night to have Iraqi security forces start patrolling Falluja with American soldiers on Tuesday. Insurgents are expected to continue turning in heavy weapons, even though truckloads of arms received by American soldiers in the last several days have been deemed to be junk, said Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the chief military spokesman.

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The American military struggled during the weekend to break the deadlock in Falluja. Around 7 p.m. on Saturday, two American generals and a representative of Mr. Bremer agreed with Falluja civic leaders to start joint patrols on Tuesday, averting an assault for at least a few days, said Hajim al-Hassani, an official with the Iraqi Islamic Party, a Sunni group on the Iraqi Governing Council that is leading the negotiations.

American commanders said last week that an attack on Falluja, a city of almost 300,000 residents 35 miles west of Baghdad, would begin within "days, not weeks" if insurgents did not relinquish heavy weapons.

General Kimmitt said Sunday that although few promises had been kept so far by the insurgents during the cease-fire, "we will continue to talk, we will continue the political process as it bears fruit." Sixty-seven families were allowed to return to Falluja on Sunday, he added.

Mr. Hassani said the two sides had agreed that 200 families would be allowed back into Falluja during the next several days and that the priority was to put Iraqi security forces back in control of the city.

The US has agreed not to invade the town of Fallujah to flush out continued armed resistance by both Sunni and Shia Muslims guerrillas. The move is being seen as a climbdown by the US forces. James Hider, left, reports from Fallujah.

"The Marines were about a day away from invading Fallujah. They were in good spirits yesterday preparing for their big push.

"They were stopped by Paul Bremer, the head of the US-led coalition, who spoke to them after a conversation with President Bush.

"The Bush Administration is worried that further fighting will inflame the situation and the President wants a solution other than a military one.

"There was concern about the political fallout in the Arab world if the Marines were to invade Fallujah, which has became a focal point for Iraqis opposing the occupation.

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"When the fighting started three weeks ago, they either ran away, hid in their homes or, in some cases, turned their guns on the Marines.

"There is still a lot of fighting despite the ceasefire, under which the Americans won't attack unless they are attacked first or see Iraqis with acting with hostile intent.

"If this compromise works, there will not be a tidal wave of military force across the town.

"There will instead be a slowly rising tide. If the Americans do not run into any resistance, they will push the combat patrols further and further into Fallujah.