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5 U.S. Troops Die in Iraq as Month's Toll Hits 70
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Meanwhile, the purported leader of a militant group linked to al-Qaeda offered U.S. troops a one-month truce if they agreed to withdraw from Iraq and hand over their heavy weapons and military bases.
In a 19-minute speech posted on an insurgent Web site, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the leader of Islamic State of Iraq, said the troops would not be attacked on their way out. "We tell Bush, 'Don't miss this historical opportunity that will guarantee you a safe withdrawal from Iraq,' " he said.
The authenticity of the tape could not be verified.
Also Friday, the U.S. Embassy denied involvement in the escape of Iraq's former electricity minister from a police station in the Green Zone, the fortress-like compound that houses the Iraqi government and U.S. and British embassies.
Aiham al-Sammarae, an Iraqi-U.S. citizen who had lived in exile in a Chicago suburb until the 2003 U.S.-led occupation, had been awaiting trial on several corruption charges when he fled the station with the help of private security agents, Iraqi officials said.
Radhi al-Radhi, the head of Iraq's Public Integrity Commission, an anti-corruption panel investigating Sammarae, said in an interview shortly after the escape that he believed the agents were Americans.
Special correspondent Waleed Saffar in Baghdad contributed to this report.
