Clashes Shatter Cease-Fire in Iraqi Holy City

NAJAF, Iraq —  Heavy clashes erupted in this holy city Thursday between Iraqi and U.S. forces and followers of radical cleric Muqtada Sadr, shattering a two-month cease-fire and provoking his militia to rise up in three other cities.

The battles in Najaf killed two U.S. troops, 12 Iraqis -- including at least five police officers -- and more than a dozen Sadr militants, according to U.S. and hospital officials. Forty Iraqi civilians also were wounded.

Amid the fighting, the Shiite Muslim cleric issued a call to arms, urging his supporters to “confront this infidel enemy.”

The clashes marked the fiercest fighting in southern Iraq since May, when U.S. troops began negotiating an end to a standoff with Sadr that had crippled Najaf and Kufa and fueled unrest and anti-American sentiments among the nation’s large Shiite Muslim population.

The U.S. casualties included a soldier with the 13th Corps Support Command who was killed when his convoy was attacked with rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire outside Najaf, and a Marine who died in fighting in the city. Three other Marines were wounded.

The Iraqis killed included an ambulance driver hit by a mortar round that fell on his vehicle.

The crew of a UH-1 Huey helicopter downed by insurgent fire was rescued with only injuries, military officials said.

The violence followed insurgent attacks Wednesday in the northern city of Mosul that left 22 people dead. The renewed street battles -- the worst since the interim Iraqi government took power June 28 -- present a major security challenge to interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, a tough-talking Shiite leader whose political future may depend on his ability to bring peace to his restive country.

U.S. military officials said Sadr’s Al Mahdi militia started the fighting early Thursday with two attacks on Najaf’s main police station. After the second assault, Iraqi police requested help from American forces.

By late morning, there were attacks on the governor’s office and several checkpoints. After Sadr’s forces launched a barrage of more than 30 mortar rounds at U.S. and Iraqi positions, the military officials said, a U.S. F-15 jet dropped two satellite-guided bombs on a cemetery to which militia members had retreated.

Representatives from Sadr’s office in Najaf accused U.S. forces of being the first to break the cease-fire by swarming around the cleric’s house this week.

“From this aggression it is obvious that America did not come to Iraq except to fight Islam and the Muslims,” a statement released by Sadr’s office in Najaf said. “We appeal to all the believers and the Mahdi army in particular to confront this infidel enemy.”

In outbreaks similar to those seen in the spring, Sadr followers around the country promptly obeyed the call to arms. In the Baghdad slum of Sadr City, militants ambushed a U.S. convoy at 11:30 a.m. and seized parts of the impoverished district. Mosque loudspeakers announced the end of the truce and urged residents to get ready to fight.

“We will not allow the Americans to enter our city,” said Abu Mohammed Asadi, an Al Mahdi militia member patrolling the streets Thursday afternoon.

Sixteen American soldiers were reported wounded in attacks throughout the day, including five in Sadr City.

Militia members also attacked British troops in the southern city of Basra, where one Sadr representative called for a “holy war,” and in Amarah, southeast of Baghdad, where militants fired at a government building. No U.S. or British soldiers were reported killed in the fighting in those cities. A British military spokesperson said two militia members were slain in Basra, Reuters reported.

After nightfall, spokesmen for Sadr called for the restoration of the truce, wire services reported. But fighting continued overnight in Najaf as U.S. troops and Iraqi security forces attempted to surround Sadr’s militia at the cemetery. Bombs and gunfire could be heard as the sun rose today.

In other violence, a suicide bomber struck a police station in Mahawil, near the town of Hillah, about 60 miles south of Baghdad. Six people were reported killed in the blast. About two dozen people were injured.

During an emergency meeting Thursday with his security advisors and U.S. military officials, interim Prime Minister Allawi contemplated arresting Sadr, but no decision was announced. An Iraqi court issued an arrest warrant for Sadr last year in connection with the slaying of a rival cleric. But U.S. efforts to execute the warrant in the spring triggered widespread uprisings.

Iraqi officials said Thursday that they were not interested in trying to make deals with Sadr.

“We are not going to negotiate,” Interior Minister Falah Nakib said at an afternoon news conference in Baghdad. “We are going to fight this militia. We have enough power and strength to kick those people out.”

Asked whether he had a message for Sadr, Nakib replied, “Don’t kill yourself.”

U.S. military officials doubt that Sadr has full control over his militia, which they believe has been hijacked by terrorists and loyalists of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party.

“We have a better idea of which of his lieutenants have turned against him than he does,” said one senior military intelligence officer.

In Najaf, besieged Iraqi police officers -- fighting in 115-degree heat -- expressed frustration.

At a police post on the edge of the city, officers dug trenches in preparation for attack and listened intently to police radios as the fighting moved closer.

“We don’t have enough officers, and we don’t have enough supplies,” said Lt. Baha Kadhim, a rocket-propelled-grenade launcher ready at his side. “It’s never going to be calm and quiet here as long as we have two armies here, the U.S. and the Mahdi army.”

Iraqi and U.S. forces sealed off Najaf and nearby Kufa to prevent Sadr’s militia from drawing reinforcements. Guards in the holy cities turned away hundreds of would-be visitors and pilgrims at checkpoints amid reports that busloads of young men from Fallouja, Baghdad and Amarah were headed here to join the fighting.

In Najaf, streets emptied and shops were closed as residents retreated once again to their homes. Plans to resume Friday prayers today at the Imam Ali Mosque -- which had canceled services for the last eight weeks -- appeared unlikely.

The city has been on edge since Monday, when a patrol with the newly arrived 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit began investigating the presence of a cache of rocket-propelled grenades in a lot near Sadr’s house. Militants, who apparently feared that the Marines were positioning to raid Sadr’s home, attacked the patrol.

Adding to tensions, members of Sadr’s militia were accused of kidnapping, beating and torturing at least six Iraqi police officers. Five of the officers were released early Thursday.

In an interview hours before the fighting began, Najaf Gov. Adnan Zurfi hinted that Iraqi police were preparing to crack down.

“You will see what we will do in the next days,” he said Wednesday night. “We will solve all of this, and we will be able to pray at the Ali shrine without carrying any guns.”

On the streets of Najaf, some directed blame at the U.S.

“How can one Iraqi kill his own brother?” asked Alaa Jabber. “The American forces planted sedition between the Iraqis and made them fight each other.”

Times staff writer Mark Mazzetti and special correspondent Raheem Salman in Baghdad and another correspondent in Najaf contributed to this report.