At least 13 Iraqi National Guards and police were killed Monday,while a tape purportedly from Al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi urged insurgents to mobilize against US-led forces and sabotage supply lines to hold back any assaults on other cities after Fallujah.

The US military said it has taken hold of Fallujah, 69 km west of Baghdad, while sporadic resistance went on, particularly in thesouthern parts of the city.

The week-long US invasion into Fallujah, which aimed at helpingpave the way for the general elections due in January, has killed 38 US soldiers, 6 Iraqi troops and more than 1,200 rebels.

US warplanes pounded hardcore rebel areas in the city amid somemilitants' vows that they would be "fighting to the death."

More than 10,000 US troops have joined the operation to fight an estimated 2,000-3000 insurgents, many of whom are believed to have fled the city before or during the offensive.

At least 320 US soldiers were wounded, though over 130 have returned to battle.

US Marine officer Col. Michael Regner said Monday that at least1,052 prisoners had been captured in the Fallujah assault, and no more than two dozen of them were from outside Iraq.

Iraq's Red Crescent group sent several truckloads of food and medicine to the city, but was blocked by US forces. The convoy turned back Monday after three days of frustration.

VIOLENCE ACROSS IRAQ LEAVES AT LEASE 13 IRAQI POLICE, SOLDIERS DEAD

The US assault on Fallujah has caused more anti-US violence throughout Iraq.

An audio tape purportedly from Zarqawi on Monday said: "The enemy has amassed all their capabilities and power to eradicate Islam in Fallujah and if the enemy finishes in Fallujah they will move towards you, so be alert and foil this plan."

"Block off all their main and secondary supply lines for these are their main arteries and ambush them along those routes for they are exposed and easy prey," said the speaker, who sounded like Zarqawi.

Militants launched near-simultaneous attacks on a police station and an Iraqi National Guard headquarters in Suwayrah, 40 km south of Baghdad, killing seven Iraqi police and soldiers.

In Baghdad, heavy explosions ripped through the Green Zone, a fortified neighborhood housing the Iraqi government and US Embassy.

Simultaneous attacks Monday fell onto the police stations in the flashpoint city of Baquba and its twin city Buhirz. Baquba is some 55 km northeast of Baghdad.

Unknown gunmen kidnapped police Col. Qassim Mohammed, and took him to the Buhriz police station, threatening to kill him if police refused to surrender the station. The gunmen shot Mohammed when police refused.

US and Iraqi troops rushed to scene and fought the militants, leaving 26 insurgents and five other Iraqi police dead.

In the northern city of Mosul, where an uprising broke out lastweek to show support for the Fallujah defenders, a suicide bomber drove a car laden with explosives toward a US convoy. He missed the target but set off the explosives, wounding five soldiers.

A wounded Iraqi policeman was seized from hospital in Mosul anddismembered by unknown men, Iraqi Interior Minister Falah Hassan al-Naqib said Monday.

"They kidnapped a wounded policeman from the hospital and cut him into pieces and then hung him up," Naqib said.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's two female relatives, who were kidnapped last week, have been released and a third relative,a male, remains in captivity, said a spokesman for Allawi on Monday.

The two women were released Sunday, but there was still no wordon Allawi's cousin.

A militant group, calling itself Ansar al-Jihad (Partisans of Holy War), claimed responsibility for the abduction and threatenedto kill the hostages if Allawi refused to order a withdrawal from Fallujah.