Insurgents offer U.S. 30-day truce to get out of Iraq

Insurgents offer U.S. 30-day truce to get out of Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The leader of an umbrella organization for Iraqi insurgent groups is offering the United States a one-month truce to withdraw all U.S. forces from Iraq and turn over its military bases "to the mujahedeen of the Islamic state."

In an audiotape posted on Islamic Web sites Friday, a speaker identified as Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Mujahideen Shura Council, said that if U.S. forces begin withdrawing from Iraq immediately and leave their heavy weaponry behind, "we will allow your withdrawal to complete without anyone targeting you with any explosive or anything else."

"We say to Bush not to waste this historic opportunity that will guarantee you a safe withdrawal," al-Baghdadi said on the audiotape.

The United States was given two weeks to respond to the offer.

The Mujahideen Shura Council is an umbrella group formed in late 2005 that includes several terrorist and insurgent groups, including al Qaeda in Iraq.

On the audiotape, al-Baghdadi also called on officers from the former Iraqi army to join an "army of the Islamic state," promising them a house and a salary as long as they pass a "test of faith" intended to demonstrate the extent of their "hatred" for Saddam Hussein and his regime.

The U.S. military Friday reported five U.S. troop deaths, while Iraqi authorities reported the discovery of a dozen bodies and the kidnapping of a Sunni imam in Baghdad.

One soldier was killed and another wounded when attackers targeted a coalition patrol west of the capital, the U.S. military said. Three Marines and a sailor assigned to Regimental Combat Team 7 died Thursday from wounds suffered during combat in Anbar province, the military also said.

The deaths bring the December U.S. military death toll to 73 and the overall total during the war to 2,955; seven U.S. contractors also have been killed.

Other developments

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates concluded his three-day tour of Iraq to assess U.S. troop levels and Iraq's security situation. He was headed for Washington on Friday and was expected to issue a report of his consultations with U.S. troops, commanders and Iraqi officials to President Bush during the weekend. (Watch what insights Gates is getting from U.S. troops in Iraq )

Coalition forces in Baghdad killed an insurgent and detained 35 others Friday morning during raids aimed at al Qaeda in Iraq members, the U.S. military said. In Basra, about 1,000 British troops arrested four and seized weapons in a sweep to arrest police suspected of death squad activities. Iraqi troops in Diyala province also launched raids, detaining 13 people in a sweep that targeted "an illegal armed group cell."

The Shiite leadership says it will not exclude radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, a statement that appeared to douse hopes for the emergence of a moderate political alliance that would include Sunni and Kurdish parties. (Full story)

President Bush and first lady Laura Bush made bedside visits to 38 American service members at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center on Friday, The Associated Press reported. They joined Girl Scouts and children of hospital staff to wrap presents for families and children of wounded military personnel and were to head for Camp David later Friday for the Christmas holiday, AP reported. (Full story)

Polish President Lech Kaczynski has approved a one-year extension through 2007 for his country's 900 troops to serve in Iraq, the AP cited his foreign policy adviser as saying Friday. They are mainly involved in training Iraqi security forces, AP reported.

Eight Marines have been charged in the killings of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha last year, the Marine Corps announced Thursday. (Full story)

CNN's Jomana Karadsheh, Jamie McIntyre and Eileen Hsieh contributed to this repor