Things are getting better. Don't believe it? Just ask Bush!
Fighting on two fronts in Iraq since weekend kills 100 Iraqis, 20 Americans
Hamza Hendawi
NAJAF, Iraq (AP) Coalition forces fought on two fronts Tuesday, battling a Shiite-inspired uprising in southern Iraq and Sunni insurgents in the violent city of Fallujah in clashes that have killed 20 American troops and at least 100 Iraqis since the weekend.
Backers of fiery anti-American Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr attacked coalition forces in three cities Italians in Nasiriyah, Britons in Samawah and Ukrainians in Kut after a weekend of fighting that was especially intense in the poor Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City in Baghdad.
Among the dead Americans were five Marines killed near Fallujah on Monday and Tuesday as forces surrounded and then fought their way to the center of the city to crush an uprising by insurgents loyal to ousted leader Saddam Hussein. Marines pulled back to the outskirts at nightfall Tuesday.
Al-Sadr left his fortress-like complex Tuesday in Kufa and moved to his office near a sacred shrine in this holy city, vowing to shed his own blood to oust the American occupation.
Al-Sadr draws most of his support from a small segment of Iraq's majority Shiite population. He is backed mainly by the poor and primarily those who live in the Sadr City neighborhood of east Baghdad. He has a history of confrontations with the U.S.-led coalition, which Monday disclosed what it said was a murder warrant for his arrest on charges he took part in the killing of a moderate Shiite rival shortly after the American invasion a year go.
U.S. officials have suggested they will move soon to arrest al-Sadr, who is surrounded by his al-Mahdi Army militia. Members of the group were thought to have been behind violence Sunday in which seven American soldiers were killed.
''I have pledged not to allow a drop of blood to be shed except my own,'' al-Sadr said in a statement. ''I'm prepared to have my own blood shed for what is holy to me.''
He said he was moving to avoid bloodshed in a mosque. ''I feared that the sanctity of a glorious and esteemed mosque would be violated by scum and evil people,'' he said. The Americans ''will have no qualms to embark on such actions.''
In Fallujah, 35 miles west of Baghdad, Marines exchanged heavy gunfire with the insurgents, said Associated Press reporter Lourdes Navarro, who was with the troops on the northeast edge of the city. Loud explosions also could be heard from the center of the city, when troops engaged guerrillas before withdrawing at nightfall.
The battle began when a foot patrol that entered a few blocks into the city came under a barrage of fire from a house, wounding two Marines, said Cpl. Christopher Ebert, of Forest City, N.C., who was on the patrol.
Trapped in an alley, they put up red smoke to summon help, and a tank and a Humvee moved in to extract the patrol.
''Insurgents usually fire and run. This time they're digging in, which is the first time we've seen them do that,'' Ebert said.
Fallujah General Hospital reported receiving five dead and seven wounded Iraqis.
American commanders have vowed to root out insurgents after last week's slaying and mutilation of four American civilians. Scenes of Iraqis dragging charred bodies through the streets and hanging two of them from a bridge Wednesday raised revulsion in the United States and showed the depth of anti-U.S. sentiment in the city.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said U.S. troops have captured a number of people in Fallujah in the last 36 hours.
''They have photographs of a good many people who were involved in the attacks against the individuals and they have been conducting raids in the city against high-value targets,'' Rumsfeld said.
Top U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer conceded not all was going smoothly as the coalition approached a June 30 handover of sovereignty to the Iraqis. Bremer canceled a trip to Washington this week because of the mounting violence.
''We have problems, there's no hiding that. But basically Iraq is on track to realize the kind of Iraq that Iraqis want and Americans want, which is a democratic Iraq,'' Bremer said on ABC's ''Good Morning America.''
But he said continuing disturbances would not affect the American handover schedule.
In Nasiriyah, 15 Iraqis were killed and 35 wounded when al-Sadr backers attacked Italian troops. Eleven Italians troops were wounded, said Maj. Schiazoni Simone, spokesman for the Italian forces.
The Apcom agency quoted U.S.-led coalition spokeswoman Paola Della Casa as saying the Iraqi attackers used civilians as human shields during the attack. She said a woman and two children were among the dead.
According to the Defense Ministry in Rome, gunmen opened fire on Italian forces patrolling the streets and bridges over the Euphrates after violent protests in the area. The Italians returned fire, and at the end of the gunbattle regained control of the main bridges, said a statement by the Defense Ministry.
The ministry said the coalition headquarters building in Nasiriyah also came under attack.
Fighting overnight in Amarah in the south between al-Sadr's followers and British troops killed 15 Iraqis and wounded eight, said coalition spokesman Wun Hornbyckle.
In the eastern Shiite city of Kut, a Ukrainian soldier was killed and five were wounded when al-Sadr militants attacked an armored personnel carrier, the Defense Ministry said. Two of the Iraqis were killed and 10 were wounded, according to al-Sadr's office in Kut. Ukraine has about 1,650 troops in Iraq, the third-largest contingent among countries that did not take part in last year's major combat operations.
About 500 Japanese soldiers stationed in Samawah in the far south have been ordered to halt work on repairing roads and other humanitarian activities outside the safety of their camp until after festivities for the Shiite holy day of Arbaeen on April 11, Kyodo News reported.
A U.S. official in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity, said all American officials in Iraq, including those working for the Coalition Provisional Authority, had been told to remain inside their compounds since Monday because of security worries. It was not clear how long the rule would remained in place.
Rumsfeld said American military commanders in Iraq will get additional troops if they request more soldiers. No request has been made.
At the moment, about 135,000 U.S. troops are in Iraq ''an unusually high level,'' Rumsfeld said. American officials had expected to go down to about 115,000 troops when a series of rotations of new troops into and older troops out of the country was complete, Rumsfeld said.
The United States declared al-Sadr an ''outlaw'' after his militiamen battled coalition troops Sunday in Baghdad and outside Najaf in fights that killed 61 people including eight U.S. soldiers.
Three U.S. soldiers were killed in attacks Monday and Tuesday in a northern Baghdad neighborhood near an area that saw clashes Monday between al-Sadr militiamen and Americans, the military said though it was not immediately clear whether they were killed by al-Sadr supporters.
The showdown with al-Sadr could raise tensions with Iraq's Shiite majority. U.S. officials appear to be counting on Shiites not to rally around al-Sadr, who is widely distrusted within his community for his youth and radicalism.
AP reporter Bassem Mroue in Fallujah contributed to this story.
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