neighborhoods in Falluja after reports of weekend clashes there between al Qaeda-linked fighters and government troops, Iraqi state TV said.
But al-Maliki also appealed to Falluja's residents and tribes to expel the "terrorists" from the central Iraqi city in order to save their neighborhoods from the risk of confrontations
between militants and government forces.
Conflicting reports have emerged over who is in control in Falluja, the site of some of the bloodiest fighting between U.S. forces and insurgents during the Iraq War.
Some suggest the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), formerly the group commonly known as al Qaeda in Iraq, is in partial control of Falluja, which is situated roughly 60
kilometers (37 miles) west of Baghdad, in the volatile
province of Anbar.
The government said this weekend that the Iraqi army shelled Falluja in an effort to clear out the al Qaeda-linked fighters.
The recent fighting in Anbar, whose population is predominantly Sunni, has posed a serious challenge to al-
Maliki and his Shiite-dominated government. It has raised questions about his ability to hold the country together amid a rising insurgency.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday that the United States will help the Iraqi government in the battle against al Qaeda-linked fighters in western Iraq, but stressed it won't send troops.
"We're not contemplating putting boots on the ground,"Kerry said in Jerusalem during a visit to the Middle East.
"This is their fight, but we're going to help them in their fight."
U.S. military forces, which invaded Iraq and toppled the Saddam Hussein regime in 2003, fought insurgents there for years until they withdrew at the end of 2011.
Kerry: We'll help Iraq but won't send in troops
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