Insurgents, militia launch attacks across Iraq

BAGHDAD -- Shi'ite militia fighters and insurgents launched attacks against coalition forces across much of Iraq yesterday, resulting in scores of Iraqi deaths.

Just over six weeks until the United States is scheduled to transfer power to an Iraqi government, Baghdad itself was drawn further into the maw of the conflict, as American soldiers killed at least 21 Iraqis in 10 separate clashes in the capital.

At least 14 fighters were killed early yesterday in northeast Baghdad's Sadr City, when Shi'ite militiamen used mortars, rocket-propelled grenades, and gunfire against American soldiers, according to US military officials. Just past noon, two thunderous explosions shook central Baghdad, when insurgents fired a mortar round into the so-called "Green Zone," the US-led coalition's headquarters.

In west Baghdad, insurgents launched rocket-propelled grenades at American soldiers, who shot back, killing seven Iraqis.

Insurgents attacked an Iraqi military recruiting station in the northern city of Mosul, killing four civilians, according to US officials. The US military also announced the deaths of five soldiers: three from rebel attacks Friday, one in a vehicle accident, and one from what was described as natural causes.

The coalition's heaviest fight continued against the Shi'ite militia loyal to the firebrand cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, scores of whom were killed yesterday across an area stretching hundreds of miles. Despite the quickly rising death toll of Iraqi fighters, US officials said they were nonetheless tempering their military strikes against Sadr's forces, for fear of igniting even more intense violence if they attempt to obliterate his Mahdi Army.

"We certainly understand that we've got the military force to end this by force of arms at any time," Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, deputy chief of US operations in Iraq, told reporters in Baghdad. "But in the long run that does not solve the problem, and it may create 10 new problem sets that we are trying to avoid."

Rather than losing steam after a month of fighting, Sadr's rebellion appears to have gathered momentum, however. It recent days, fighting has leaped from city to city across a swath of southern Iraq, reaching almost to the Kuwait border.

The accelerating violence comes at a critical time for US officials, who are scrambling to stitch together a sovereign Iraqi government to which to cede power on June 30.

The United Nations envoy to Iraq, Lakhdar Brahimi, has been locked in meetings in Baghdad for eight days with Iraqi and American officials, attempting to draft a slate of candidates for an interim government, which would serve until elections are held next January. UN officials say that if insurgents keep up their fight long past June 30, they could face problems organizing a rushed election.

"I have said several times that ballots and mortar shelling do not match," Carina Perelli, director of the UN's Election Assistance Mission to Iraq, said on Thursday. She said she hoped that once election campaigns began in July, the violence might subside.

"That basically many times changes the equation in favor of a more stable environment," she said.

US officials have said they intend to maintain a force of about 130,000 troops even after the American occupation ends. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell told leaders at the World Economic Forum in Jordan yesterday that he would seek the UN Security Council's sanction for that force.

US officials appealed yesterday to Iraqis to find mediators to persuade Sadr to disarm his militia, who are thought to number about 5,000. Members of Iraq's Governing Council said last week that they had been unable to meet directly with Sadr, who has been holed up in Najaf.

The major sticking point has been an outstanding murder charge against Sadr in the killing of a rival cleric. US officials have insisted that Sadr submit to an Iraqi court to stand trial and have ruled out proposals from some Iraqi politicians that Sadr's indictment be postponed or waived in return for him disbanding his militia.

"Our goal has been clear for some time," the coalition's spokesman Daniel Senor, told reporters in Baghdad. "Moqtada al-Sadr must face justice. He must disarm his militia. Period. End of issue."

That possibility seemed remote yesterday, however.

In the southern city of Nasiriyah, Shi'ite militia battled Italian soldiers for eight hours before dawn. British soldiers killed 16 fighters near Amara when their convoy was ambushed on a road outside the city. In the holy Shi'ite city of Karbala, about 60 miles south of Baghdad, men armed with rocket-propelled grenade launchers and Kalashnikov rifles paced the streets, triggering skirmishes with American forces.

Sadr's fighters in Karbala, who have commandeered police stations in the city in recent days, said they intended to kill officers they captured.

"This is the last policeman we will free," Sheik Hamza Tai, a Sadr loyalist, told reporters in Karbala, after releasing a hostage captured during a battle on Friday. "Any new policemen we capture will be executed for collaborating with the occupiers."

Unlike the violence in early April, which was centered in Fallujah and Najaf, the current fighting encompasses a much larger area.

Sadr officials in the heavily Shi'ite city of Basra, near the Kuwait border, said that 20 people volunteered yesterday to be suicide bombers. They were answering a call at Friday prayers by a sheik aligned with Sadr.