American, 3 Others Kidnapped in Iraq

U.S. Marines engage in a gun battle with insurgents in the town of Ramadi. (Jim Macmillan -- AP)

Neighbors said the house targeted Monday had been occupied for about five months by a foreign company that also maintained three or four other homes in the Mansour neighborhood. The company was identified as Saudi Arabian Trading and Contracting Co., a supplier to U.S. forces in Iraq, according to the Reuters news agency.

Attacks on foreigners have risen sharply in recent weeks, and insurgents warned that they will increase further if Iraq's interim government directs U.S. forces to carry out a major offensive on Fallujah and Ramadi, cities controlled by insurgents.

Followers of Abu Musab Zarqawi, the Jordanian who recently pledged fealty to Osama bin Laden, on Saturday posted fliers on mosque walls in Fallujah urging fighters to take the battle to other cities, and residents say bands of insurgents have shifted to the capital to carry out kidnappings and attacks on hotels housing Westerners.

Iraqi and U.S. officials say Fallujah must be returned to government control before elections can go forward. Negotiations aimed at averting a showdown continued Monday.

Fighting flared again in Ramadi, about 60 miles west of Baghdad. The slain cameraman, Diaa Najm, was killed by a shot to the head while filming a firefight near his home for Associated Press Television News. Najm was the 24th journalist killed in Iraq.

Marines also continued to mass forces around Fallujah, briefly pounding the city with artillery but not yet moving ground units forward.

"We have a plan. We're not going to execute it until we're asked to," said Nathan Braden, spokesman for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. "The reason we're in this country is to facilitate the Iraqi government. We're not here to kill people. They just keep shooting us. What can you do?"

Correspondent Jackie Spinner reported from near Fallujah. Special correspondent Omar Fekeiki in Baghdad contributed to this report.