Baghdad, Iraq ? After nearly three weeks of unrelenting attacks by insurgents, U.S. military officials are urging Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari to respond with strong and decisive action or risk erosion of confidence and a widening sense of insecurity among Iraqis.

Army Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. officer in Iraq, conferred with al-Jaafari on Thursday and Friday in meetings that other U.S. officials said focused on reviewing options and encouraging a firm government response to the violence. More significant than what the government might do, one senior military officer said, is the fact that the government be seen as doing something.

“The perception of governance is important,” he said.

The prodding comes during a wave of violence that has taken more than 400 lives since a new government was chosen two weeks ago from among legislators elected in January.

“These are the standard meetings to share ideas about the security situation,” said al-Jaafari’s spokesman, Laith Kubba. “We have them regularly.”

A U.S. officer familiar with the discussions said U.S. authorities were making the new leaders aware of the Iraqi security forces’ current capabilities and how those forces might be deployed. Iraqi officials also were encouraged to engage in a more aggressive public information campaign about measures being taken to combat the insurgency.

Al-Jaafari extended for another 30 days the country’s 6-month-old state of emergency, which was declared in November in the hours before the invasion of Fallujah, an insurgent stronghold. Officials said other actions under consideration included an extension of curfews in Baghdad and Mosul to limit the mobility of insurgents, and the cancellation of leaves for security personnel to bolster Iraq’s forces.

Interior Ministry officials Friday night announced the capture of Palestinian men said to be responsible for a Thursday car bombing that killed at least 14 people in Baghdad.

U.S. Army soldiers respond to a roadside bomb that targeted an American convoy and destroyed a Humvee on the highway leading to the airport in Baghdad, Iraq. A surge of militant attacks have killed at least 430 people across Iraq since April 28, when the country's first democratically elected government was announced.

Iraqi officials say they think the insurgents’ onslaught is timed to undermine the delicate governing balance among Iraq’s religious and ethnic factions. It took three months to form a Cabinet that incorporated Sunni Arabs, who largely boycotted the elections and are therefore under-represented in the assembly.