Developments in Iraq on Thursday

Iraq authorities abruptly put off Thursday a national conference of political, religious and civic leaders considered a crucial step on the road to democracy amid rising violence and disarray over choosing delegates and boycott threats by key factions.

One insurgent group linked to Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said Thursday it had kidnapped a Somali truck driver and would behead him if his Kuwaiti company did not stop working in Iraq. Another group threatened to behead one of seven foreign truck drivers it was holding in 24 hours if its string of demands, which included a pullout by their company, were not met.

A U.S. soldier was killed in clashes north of Baghdad, and a Polish soldier died in a roadside bombing.

Marines and Iraqi troops engaged in a hourslong battle later Thursday with insurgents in the volatile city of Fallujah, the military said. Witnesses reported hearing more than 60 mortar rounds fired toward the eastern edge of the city, where Americans are based, and planes flying overhead.

Iraq's interior minister said police in raids to crack down on insurgents have arrested 270 suspects, mostly from neighboring Arab countries. Some of the militants were Syrian and Iranian, Falah Hassan al-Naqib told the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat daily.

-- The Associated Press