April 12 (Bloomberg) -- A group of seven Chinese nationals was abducted near Fallujah, bringing to more than 30 the number of foreigners kidnapped in Iraq in the past week. A cease-fire between U.S.-led forces and insurgents in the city is holding.

China asked Iraq's interim Governing Council to help ensure the safety of its citizens, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its Web site. Japan's government says it has no news on the fate of three Japanese citizens held in Iraq.

At least 60 coalition soldiers and Marines have died since April 4 when U.S.-led forces began an operation dubbed ``Vigilant Resolve'' to quell rebels in Fallujah. More than 600 people have been killed inside Fallujah, the Associated Press said, citing Iraqis in the city lying 64 kilometers (40 miles) west of the capital, Baghdad.

Coalition troops are also fighting Shiite cleric Moqtada al- Sadr's Mahdi Army in southern and central Iraq. The militia numbers about 3,000, according to the U.S. military.

The coalition declared a first cease-fire in Fallujah on Friday. The latest suspension of the U.S.-led offensive in effect since yesterday is still in place, said a military spokesman, who declined to be further identified.

Members of Iraq's Governing Council are in Fallujah trying to negotiate an end to the fighting. Council members are also talking to leaders of the Mahdi Army, Agence France-Presse said.

Police in Najaf

Negotiations brought a first agreement in the holy city of Najaf, AFP said. Iraqi police were deployed today in Najaf on condition that coalition troops stay out of the city, AFP cited Najaf police chief Ali al-Yaseri as saying.

``An agreement has been reached between the coalition and the office of Sadr,'' Yaseri said. The Governing Council is also talking to the militia in the southern cities of Karbala and Kufa, AFP said.

U.S. President George W. Bush said yesterday coalition forces had had ``a tough week'' in Iraq.

``The violence we've seen is part of a few people trying to stop progress toward freedom,'' Bush said at Fort Hood, Texas. ``Our troops are taking care of business. Their job is to make Iraq more secure so that a peaceful Iraq can emerge.''

U.S. military commanders in Iraq will receive additional troops if they need them, Bush said.

Three U.S. Marines were killed in fighting late yesterday in the western province of Anbar, the military said in a statement.

Troop Casualties

Since Bush declared an end to ``major combat operations'' on May 1, 346 troops have been killed in action in Iraq, according to an April 9 tally by the Department of Defense. Reported casualties over the weekend would bring that total to 362.

The Chinese were taken hostage after they entered Iraq from Jordan, China's official Xinhua news agency reported from Baghdad. The group was stopped while traveling on a highway from the northern city of Mosul to Fallujah, Xinhua said.

China has asked its embassies in Jordan and Syria to work on rescuing the seven Chinese, the Foreign Ministry said in its statement. Seven South Koreans who had been kidnapped were released Thursday, Agence France-Presse reported. An eighth escaped, the agency said.

A deadline of 3 a.m. Tokyo time today for the release of the three Japanese passed without news of their fate, the Japanese government said. An Iraqi group threatened to kill the captives unless Japan withdraws the 600 soldiers it has sent to help coalition forces distribute aid and rebuild infrastructure.

Kut

Iraqi insurgents are threatening to decapitate hostages unless their demands are met, Sky News said Saturday, citing a tape aired on Al-Arabiya television. The hostages, which the insurgents said included Japanese, Bulgarians, Americans, Israelis, Spaniards, Koreans, Italians and other nationalities, will be beheaded unless U.S. forces lift their blockade of Fallujah, the kidnappers said on the tape.

Another group has threatened to kill Thomas Hamill a U.S. civilian worker taken hostage near Baghdad, AP said. Gary Teeley, a British citizen held for six days in the southern Iraqi city of Nassiriyah was released yesterday, David Macdougall, a coalition spokesman, said. Teeley was one of nine foreign hostages freed yesterday, he said. Macdougall said he didn't know the nationalities of the others.

U.S. forces have entered the central Iraqi town of Kut, taking control of most buildings from Shiite Muslim militiamen, Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, deputy chief of Iraqi operations, said at a briefing yesterday in Baghdad. Ukrainian forces withdrew on Wednesday from the city after one soldier was killed in clashes with the Mahdi Army.

To contact the reporter on this story: Rob Delaney in Beijing at robdelaney@bloomberg.net; Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: April 12, 2004 05:50 EDT