April 29 (Bloomberg) -- At least 10 U.S. soldiers were killed today in three attacks in Iraq after the U.S.-led coalition held talks in Fallujah aimed at ending violence in the city west of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

Eight soldiers from the U.S. 1st Armored Division were killed and four wounded in a car bomb attack at about 11:30 a.m. Baghdad time near Mahmudiyah, south of the capital, said a coalition military spokesman who declined to be further identified. One U.S. soldier was killed and one wounded in an attack at about 10 a.m. near Baquba, he said.

One U.S. soldier was killed in eastern Baghdad at 5 a.m. local time by a rocket-propelled grenade, the Military said on its Web site.

April has been the bloodiest month for U.S. soldiers since last year's invasion of Iraq. The coalition has been fighting in the south of Iraq against Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and his supporters. Fighting flared up in mainly Sunni Muslim Fallujah on April 4, when U.S.-led forces began an operation dubbed ``Vigilant Resolve'' to quell insurgents after the killing of four U.S. contractors there the previous week.

The U.S. military says that since it declared a unilateral cease-fire in Fallujah on April 10, it hasn't carried out ``offensive operations,'' and has returned fire in the city only when attacked. U.S. Marines and Iraqis reached a tentative agreement to end the siege of the city, with four Iraqi generals agreeing to assume control of the Iraqi army and move it into the city, Cable News Network reported today, citing Los Angeles Times reporter Tony Perry.

``We had negotiations going on last night outside Fallujah,'' U.S. Marines spokesman Major Thomas V. Johnson said by satellite phone from near the city. Representatives from the Iraqi Governing Council, the Coalition Provisional Authority and the U.S. military held discussions with Fallujah civilian leaders ``who have some degree of influence'' in the city, he said. Major Johnson said he couldn't confirm the CNN report.

Marines' Pullout

U.S. Marines will move out of the city during a one- to two- week transition and hand over control of Fallujah to the Iraqi army, CNN said. Coalition and U.S. military spokesmen contacted in Baghdad had no information on the agreement.

Some Marines are packing their equipment in preparation to leave Fallujah, the Associated Press said, citing unidentified Marines who said they've been ordered to pull away from the city.

Insurgents in Fallujah who fired on U.S. forces this week used a mosque for cover, U.S. Army Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt said Monday at a Baghdad briefing. Eight anti-U.S. fighters were killed and the mosque was partly destroyed by U.S. air support, he said. Pictures posted on a U.S. Central command Web site show the minaret of a mosque was toppled.

At least 280 people have been killed in Fallujah since April 5, Agence France-Presse said yesterday, citing the Iraqi health ministry. The agency earlier this month cited an unidentified Fallujah hospital director as saying more than 600 people had died in the city, most of them civilians.

Combat Deaths

According to U.S. Department of Defense figures, 126 U.S. soldiers and Marines have died in combat this month in Iraq, more than the 109 killed during the invasion phase that ended when U.S. President George W. Bush declared an end to major combat operations on May 1. Today's 10 deaths would bring that total to 136.

Violence has also increased this month in the British- controlled south of Iraq. A foreign civilian was shot dead today in Basra, the U.K. military said.

``A drive-by shooting occurred in Basra at about 9:15 a.m.'' Iraq time, said a British military spokesman, Squadron Leader Jon Arnold, by telephone from Basra. ``One non-Iraqi civilian has been killed and another is in shock.'' Arnold said Iraqi police are investigating the shooting. The nationality of the victim isn't known, he said.

The victim is believed to be South African, Agence France- Presse said, citing Major Ian Clooney of the British military.

Suicide bombings targeting police buildings in British- controlled Basra and nearby Zubayr last week killed about 70 people, including many children.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: April 29, 2004 08:42 EDT