US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said the military operation in Fallujah is not over.

Rumsfeld said Saturday while on a visit to Panama that there still will be pockets of resistance and areas that will be difficult.

Earlier in the day, Iraqi national security advisor Qassim Dawood said that the massive US-Iraqi assault on Iraq's once rebel-held city of Fallujah had ended

Also on Saturday, over ten militant groups, including one led by al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, issued a joint statement, vowing to take their battle in the rebel city of Fallujah to all corners of Iraq in response to the crimes and mass annihilation committed by the US military.

The statement also warned all employees in government and ministries, both civilian and military, not to work or cooperate with the Iraqi interim government or they will be targeted by attacks.