By HAMZA HENDAWI, Associated Press Writer KARBALA, Iraq - U.S. combat deaths since the end of major fighting passed the 100 mark Friday after a joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol confronted gunmen outside the headquarters of a Shiite Muslim cleric, triggering clashes in which three Americans and 10 Iraqis were killed, including two Iraqi policemen.
Another American soldier was killed and two were wounded by a roadside bomb
near Baghdad, and nine U.S. troops were wounded in a roadside bombing in the
northern city of Mosul.
The four deaths made it the deadliest day for American soldiers in Iraq (news
- web sites) since Sept. 18, when three soldiers were
killed in an ambush. With the latest deaths, the number of U.S. soldiers who
have died by hostile fire since President Bush (news
- web
sites) declared an end to major combat May 1 has climbed to 101.
During a visit Friday to U.S. troops in Tikrit, Lt. Gen. Thomas F. Metz,
commander of the Army's 3rd Corps, told reporters American troops would be in
Iraq for another troop rotation or even two. At current pace of a turnover of
troops every year, that could mean U.S. forces would be in Iraq until 2006.
The bloody battle in the Shiite Muslim holy city of Karbala, about 50 miles
southwest of Baghdad, took place over a 12-hour period. It underscores the
dangers of trying to disarm militias maintained by Shiite clerics who wield
considerable influence in Iraq's largest religious group. The U.S.-led coalition
has banned private militias and is committed to disarming them.
The three Americans who were killed came from the 101st Airborne Division,
according to Maj. Mike Escudie of the U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Fla. Seven
Americans were wounded, U.S. officials said.
Eight of the Iraqi gunmen died and up to 18 were wounded in the battle, which
started about midnight Thursday and continued intermittently until late Friday
morning.
Pentagon (news
- web
sites) officials said they were investigating how the shooting began. Iraqis
insisted the Americans fired first.
U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. George Krivo said the trouble began when a
joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol found gunmen in front of a mosque after the nighttime
curfew. The 9 p.m. curfew was imposed in Karbala this week after clashes between
supporters of rival Shiite clerics.
However, gunmen who said they took part in Friday's fighting said the battle
began outside the house of Grand Ayatollah Mahmoud al-Hassani, less than half a
mile from the mosque. The house also served as the ayatollah's headquarters.
Pentagon officials said al-Hassani's guards were believed involved in the
shooting. The ayatollah's followers said he and his family were taken to a safe
place Friday morning.
Malik Kazim, a gunman who said he participated in the battle, said the
fighting involved armored vehicles and Humvees that passed al-Hassani's
headquarters. At least 20 gunmen were guarding the offices.
The U.S.-Iraqi patrol ordered the gunmen to go inside. When they refused, a
shootout ensued with intense gunfire, including small-arms fire and
rocket-propelled grenades, Kazim said.
Most of the violence directed against Americans has come from the minority
Sunni Muslim community, which formed the base of Saddam Hussein (news
- web
sites)'s regime. The spread of anti-American violence into the Shiite
community, which comprises about 60 percent of Iraq's 25 million people, would
present a grave challenge to the United States as it strives to implement a
political program to give Iraq a democratically elected government by the end of
next year.
The fall of Saddam's brutal regime in April gave the Shiites political
empowerment after centuries on the sidelines � under the rule of Sunni Arabs,
British occupiers after World War I and some 400 years of Sunni Ottoman Turkish
rule before them.
The Shiite rise has also deepened differences among rival Shiite factions,
with senior clerics vying for influence and prestige.
Although many leading Shiite clerics have avoided openly challenging U.S.
rule, concern has risen about the activities of Muqtada al-Sadr, a radical
Shiite cleric whose public hostility to the occupation is considered a threat by
Washington.
In a sermon Friday, al-Sadr said he was prepared to support the U.S.-picked
Governing Council if L. Paul Bremer, the top American official in Iraq,
relinquished his veto over decisions by the council and if the 25-member body
represented more parties.
If his demands were met, al-Sadr said he would withdraw his plan to declare
his own rival government. Al-Sadr also called for an independent committee led
by a cleric to investigate recent Shiite-Shiite clashes in Karbala, for which he
blamed the Americans.
Despite U.S. opposition to private militias, Shiites insist they had no
choice but to arm themselves because the coalition cannot guarantee law and
order.
Abu Ali, an aide of Ayatollah al-Hassani, said his group took up weapons
after the Aug. 29 assassination in the holy Shiite city of Najaf of Ayatollah
Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, one of the country's most prominent Shiite clerics. Ali
also spoke of "Wahhabi threats against our master" � a reference to Wahhabi
Sunni Muslims, longtime rivals of the Shiites.
U.S. occupation authorities agreed to allow senior Shiite clerics to maintain
a 12-member personal security detail. Al-Hassani is a lesser-known cleric who
came to Karbala from Baghdad after Saddam's overthrow. The
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