Death toll rises as clashes continue in Iraq

American troops fought militiamen loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr today in the southern city of Karbala, but the city of Najaf was relatively quiet following intense clashes yesterday.

Guerrillas fired a mortar round at an Iraqi army recruiting centre in the northern city of Mosul, killing four people and injuring 19, hospital officials said.

The shell landed in a crowd of people who were waiting to sign up for the military. Insurgents have previously targeted police and army recruitment centres in an effort to undermine Iraqi involvement in the US-led coalition.

Hussein Assem, a 25-year-old army volunteer, suffered shrapnel wounds in a hand and leg and was taken to a hospital.

“While I was at the entrance of the volunteer centre, a mortar shell fell near me,” he said. “I fell down together with the others on the floor. I felt I was in coma and I woke up to find myself at the hospital.”

British troops killed up to 16 Iraqi insurgents after their patrol was ambushed between the southern cities of Amarah and Basra on Friday, and two British soldiers were wounded, the Ministry of Defence said.

Iraqi witnesses said 21 militiamen were killed, and that they were loyalists of al-Sadr, a fierce opponent of the US-led occupation who launched an uprising last month and faces an arrest warrant in the death of a rival moderate cleric last year.

The US military announced the deaths of five soldiers: three from wounds suffered in rebel attacks on Friday, one in a vehicle accident and one from “natural causes.”

On Saturday, an explosion was heard near the headquarters of the US-led coalition in Baghdad. Sirens wailed briefly. There was no report of casualties.

American forces clashed on Friday night with al-Sadr forces in Sadr City, a poor neighbourhood in Baghdad where support for al-Sadr is strong. Two militiamen, including a police lieutenant who had joined al-Sadr’s al-Mahdi Army, were killed, witnesses said.

US jet fighters bombarded the outskirts of Sadr City overnight, forcing militiamen to flee their positions, the witnesses said.

Today US soldiers drove through the neighbourhood with loudspeakers, urging people to hand in their weapons within a week in exchange for money.

The fighting in Karbala occurred in the Mukiyam area, and was not as widespread as in previous days, witnesses said. US jets flew over the city.

On Friday afternoon, al-Sadr followers stormed the building of Karbala’s quick reaction police force and looted weapons, witnesses said. Four Iraqis were killed and thirteen were injured, according to officials at al-Hussein hospital.

In Najaf, gunmen from al-Sadr’s militia, al-Mahdi Army, controlled the city centre and they had replaced a special force assigned to protect the Shrine of Imam Ali, one of Shia Islam’s holiest sites. Bands of fighters stood at almost every street corner around the shrine.

Some militiamen patrolled the area in a police pickup truck, one of several commandeered by al-Mahdi Army fighters when they raided police stations in Najaf this week.

Again on Friday, American tanks firing shells and heavy machine guns made their deepest incursion yet into Najaf. Apparent gunfire slightly damaged one of Shia Islam’s holiest shrines, prompting calls for revenge and even suicide attacks.

Twenty people signed up for an al-Sadr-backed suicide squad in the southern city of Basra, though only 10 were accepted after undergoing checks by organisers.

South of Baghdad, a soldier died from injuries received during a mortar attack on Friday, and another soldier died on the same day in a sniper ambush. Near Balad, north of Baghdad, a soldier died and another was injured in a car bomb attack on a military convoy.

Early yesterday, a military vehicle overturned during a patrol south of Baghdad, killing a soldier. A fifth soldier died of natural causes in the capital, the military said.

As of Friday, May 14, 775 U.S. service members have died since the beginning of military operations in Iraq last year.

Of those, 565 died as a result of hostile action and 210 died of non-hostile causes.

Also today, fighting ebbed in the southern city of Nasiriyah, where gunmen believed loyal to al-Sadr had attacked the local coalition headquarters. Two Filipino guards suffered shrapnel wounds.

Shooting lasted all night until early morning around the coalition building, where some international staffers and four Italian journalists were trapped inside, said coalition spokesman Andrea Angeli, who was among those in the building.

Residents said militiamen controlled the centre of Nasiriyah on Saturday, and had set up checkpoints on two main bridges across the Euphrates river, and another checkpoint on the road between Nasiriyah and Basra. But Iraqi police controlled the governor’s office and other state buildings.

Assailants in Qurna, near Basra, yesterday killed a tribal chief who had strong ties to coalition forces. During the funeral ceremony today for Youssef al-Sa’ad, head of al-Sa’ad tribe, mourners opened fire on the headquarters of a cleric who is deemed close to al-Sadr.