In Najaf, Gunfire and a Peace Plan

BAGHDAD —  Gunfire erupted in the Shiite Muslim holy city of Najaf early today as clerics, civic authorities and tribal leaders vowed to present a peace plan to U.S.-led occupation authorities in the coming days.

Militiamen loyal to militant cleric Muqtada Sadr were seen in the streets after midnight headed toward the gold-domed shrine of Imam Ali, a revered site in the Shiite religion. Residents said U.S. troops were moving deeper into the city, which was largely in the control of Sadr’s militia, known as the Al Mahdi army. Flares lighted the night.

A U.S. military spokesman could not confirm any advance into the center of Najaf. Several thousand U.S. soldiers are massed mostly on the city’s outskirts; commanders have said troops will stay away from holy sites.

In Karbala, a Shiite holy city about 50 miles to the north that was the scene of intense fighting early Wednesday, Associated Press reported that intermittent gunfire could be heard as Sadr’s militiamen clashed with U.S. troops.

A fierce U.S. advance early Wednesday routed the militiamen from their positions at the Mukhaiyam, a large complex in Karbala that includes a mosque and other buildings.

U.S. officials said the mosque was targeted because it had become a militia command center and weapons storage site. Once the fighting subsided, soldiers searching the heavily damaged mosque complex found “extensive weapons caches,” said Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, chief military spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition.

Television footage from Karbala showed smoke rising from buildings, and U.S. helicopters passed near the city’s two most revered sites, the shrines of Imam Abbas and Imam Hussein.

Twenty-two militiamen were killed in fighting in Karbala late Tuesday and Wednesday, Kimmitt said. Six U.S. soldiers were wounded, but four were to return to duty.

The toll reflects the one-sided nature of the fighting since U.S. forces first engaged Sadr’s militia last month. Scores of ill-trained militiamen have been killed, while U.S. forces have suffered relatively light casualties. The young Shiite fighters -- many recruited from the ranks of the urban unemployed -- are armed largely with AK-47 assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. U.S. forces confront them with tanks, armored personnel carriers, helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft.

Clerics and civic leaders were circulating a peace plan they said had the blessing of Sadr and Najaf’s moderate Shiite leadership. The proposal seeks to end the standoff by transforming the Al Mahdi army into a political organization and referring to religious authorities a criminal case against Sadr. The outspoken young cleric is wanted in connection with the slaying of a fellow Shiite cleric last year.

U.S. commanders have said they welcome any peace initiatives. However, coalition officials continue to insist that Sadr face justice within the Iraqi legal system and that his militia be disarmed.

“If there’s an effort to minimize bloodshed and reach a peaceful solution, we would have to be the ones who make the final determination,” said Dan Senor, chief spokesman for L. Paul Bremer III, the U.S. administrator in Iraq.

At a news conference, Sadr again demanded that U.S. troops leave Iraq.

In Baghdad, meanwhile, a U.S. soldier was killed by a roadside bomb Wednesday and a second soldier in his convoy was wounded, the military said.

More than 770 troops have been killed since the war began.

Raheem Salman and Saad Sadiq of The Times’ Baghdad Bureau contributed to this report from Najaf.