For one commander in the militia loyal to Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, the trip home to Baghdad after a cease-fire was reached in Najaf was just a pit stop. It was time enough to receive dozens of well-wishers delivering congratulations for not getting killed resisting the Americans. Time enough to weep with the visitors over the damage inflicted to the sacred Imam Ali shrine in the holy city. And time enough for the commander, who gave his name only as Abu Hayder, to prepare to return to Najaf on Sunday morning and figure out how to redistribute weapons that fighters had laid aside. "It seems the truce is only in Najaf," Abu Hayder said. "Every other area is on fire."
Hundreds of Sadr's supporters recently returned from fighting in Najaf, where a calm prevailed Saturday after a three-week battle ended between the militia and U.S. and Iraqi forces. But as they arrived in Baghdad, a new round of clashes broke out in their Sadr City neighborhood between insurgents and U.S. soldiers. "It is essential that the fight continue, and it will continue until the Americans are expelled," said Sheik Raed Kadhimi, a spokesman for Sadr's office in the Kadhimiya neighborhood of Baghdad.
Shiite insurgents fired mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles at the 1st Brigade Combat Team from the U.S. Army's 1st Cavalry Division. The U.S. forces drove through the neighborhood in Humvees, using loudspeakers to order people stay in their houses because U.S. and allied forces were "cleaning the area of armed men," the Associated Press reported. Three Iraqis were killed and 25 were wounded in the battles, according to the Health Ministry, while the U.S. forces reported no casualties. Fighters also fired a round of mortars into a neighborhood in eastern Baghdad, killing two boys who were washing cars in the street, the AP said. "It's clearly not over. This is an agreement that concerned Najaf and Kufa," a senior U.S. official said on condition of anonymity, referring to the sacred city and an adjoining town. "Moqtada Sadr has a decision to make which we'll see in actions, not words, very soon." |