Cleric followers battle US troops

BAGHDAD - Followers of firebrand cleric Moqtada al-Sadr launched a coordinated uprising against US-led occupation forces yesterday, killing one American soldier in a gun battle near the holy city of Najaf and at least seven other US soldiers in clashes in Sadr City, the Shi'ite Muslim stronghold on the outskirts of Iraq's capital.

In addition, two US Marines died in fighting in Anbar Province on Saturday and yesterday, raising the number of US troops killed in Iraq to 610.

In the first large-scale violent confrontation between US-led forces and a Shi'ite militia, Sadr supporters fought a three-hour gun battle with Spanish-led troops at their base in Kufa, near Najaf. Gunfire erupted after 5,000 demonstrators marched on the base, killing at least 20 Iraqis and a Salvadoran soldier, hospital and military officials said.

US military spokesmen said that men clad in the black garb of Sadr's Army of the Mahdi militia attacked the garrison with small-arms fire. Some witnesses told reporters that soldiers opened fire after protesters, some armed, threw rocks at military vehicles.

Then, in the first major ground battle in a Baghdad neighborhood since last April, US tanks and Humvees rolled into Baghdad's Sadr City section, a poor Shi'ite neighborhood of 2 million, and clashed with the cleric's supporters near his office there. Militiamen, forbidden by occupation authorities to carry weapons, patrolled with machine guns, blocked streets, fired rocket-propelled grenades at US troops, and rode in commandeered police cars, declaring that they controlled the city.

Last night, a US military spokesman said that seven US soldiers had been killed and several wounded in Sadr City, and that fighting continued. Angry crowds torched several US Humvees after two Iraqis were killed by gunfire, said a Sadr aide reached by telephone.

"We were attacked,'' said Sayyid Amer al-Husseini. "We will defend ourselves and whatever is sacred.''

Widespread clashes with Shi'ite Muslims, who so far have not joined the antioccupation insurgency in large numbers, could be disastrous for the United States as it seeks to hand sovereignty back to Iraqis June 30.

Many Shi'ites disdain Sadr, 30, as a junior cleric with little religious authority. But Sadr supporters led protests in Kirkuk, Najaf, Nasiriyah, Amara, and Basra yesterday, proving that Sadr has the organizational muscle to deploy followers from one end of the country to the other.

The demonstrations began peacefully, but after the Najaf clash was reported in the afternoon, word spread that Sadr had issued a statement ordering his followers to abandon demonstrations, calling them ``a losing card.''

"Terrorize your enemy; God will reward you well for what pleases him,'' the statement said. "It is not possible to remain silent in front of their abuse.''

Leaders of Sadr's organization said the statement was not a literal call to violence. But followers seemed to hear it that way. "Today we fought the occupation troops and we will keep fighting them until we take over,'' said Mohammad Hanoun, 23, who wielded a chain at a protest in Baghdad.

Iraq's most senior Shi'ite cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, appealed for calm last night, Arabic-language television stations reported. Sistani is more widely respected than Sadr. But some of Sadr's views are widely shared, such as rejecting the US-appointed Governing Council that is making key decisions about Iraq's future government.

The younger, more radical cleric galvanized his poor, urban followers last week after occupation authorities shut down his newspaper, accusing it of inciting violence, and then detained a cleric close to him, Mustafa Yacoubi, on Saturday. Sadr stepped up his anti-US rhetoric Friday, urging followers to ``strike'' at occupation forces.

Yesterday's clashes occurred as occupation leader L. Paul Bremer III announced the appointment of a new defense minister, Ali Allawi, and intelligence service chief, Mohammed al-Shehwani. Bremer portrayed the move as a step toward placing Iraqis in charge of security.

"This morning a group of people in Najaf have crossed the line, and they have moved to violence,'' Bremer said before introducing the new officials. "This will not be tolerated by the coalition. This will not be tolerated by the Iraqi people. This will not be tolerated by the Iraq security forces.''

Sadr vowed to hold a sit-in at his mosque in Kufa and urged followers to gather at their neighborhood mosques and offices. His supporters said they had seized control of Kufa's police stations.

But as night fell, the atmosphere in Sadr City - once called Saddam City and renamed last year for Sadr's father, who was assassinated by regime agents in 1999 - was more suggestive of battle. Smoke rose over the sprawling neighborhood, helicopters circled, and Reuters television footage showed civilian cars crushed by tanks. A US military spokesman said US fighter jets and helicopter gunships were striking back in response to the Najaf clash.

Violence marked many of the demonstrations across the country. A suicide bomber wounded two US soldiers keeping order at the demonstration in Kirkuk, as well as five Iraqis. British troops clashed with demonstrators in Amara, but reported no casualties. Italian troops traded fire with protesters in Nasiriyah. In Baghdad's Firdos Square, Iraqi police fired at demonstrators, injuring two.

Yesterday, a senior coalition official confirmed that occupation forces had detained Yacoubi, the Sadr aide whose release the protesters are demanding. Yacoubi was arrested on an Iraqi warrant in connection with the murder of a Shi'ite cleric who was killed the day he returned to Najaf from exile a year ago after US forces took control of the city. The cleric, Abdel Majid al-Khoei, was hacked to death by a mob at the Imam Ali shrine.

Militias such as Sadr's Army of the Mahdi and its rivals are one of the biggest security problems facing the occupation. Militia leaders say that only they can bring security to Iraq. So far the occupation has refused to let them carry arms officially, relegating them to unarmed duties patrolling religious sites. Behind the scenes, militias are believed to be behind revenge killings in Baghdad and the south.

In a separate action, two US Marines were killed Saturday and yesterday in Anbar province, whose largest city is the restive Fallujah. The military provided no details.

Globe correspondent Sa'ad al-Izzi and Thanassis Cambanis of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Material from Reuters and the Associated Press was used. Barnard can be reached at abarnard@globe.com.