World

Fighting Flares Across Iraq

April 6, 2004 / 5:34 PM EDT / CBS/AP

U.S. troops battled guerrillas Tuesday on the edge of Fallujah in an operation to crush the insurgency there, as violence inspired by supporters of an anti-American Shiite Muslim cleric again spread to at least four cities, with 30 Iraqis killed.

Including casualties Monday and Tuesday, at least 18 American Marines and soldiers and 99 Iraqis have been killed since Sunday. In the same period, a Salvadoran soldier and one from Ukraine also were killed.

U.S. military commanders said Marines have moved deep into the violent city of Fallujah. Marines were engaged in a battle against insurgents in the city -- where four civilian U.S. contractors were killed last week.

Commanders said several U.S. helicopters had been hit by ground fire, but none has been brought down. They also report a number of injuries among the Marine Five other Marines died near Fallujah Monday and Tuesday as U.S. forces moved into the city.

Fierce urban combat is reported on the streets of Fallujah. Marines are holding positions in houses along the northern edge of the town. AP correspondent Lourdes Navarro, with a company of Marines on the edge of Fallujah, said they're moving a few city blocks at a time.

After a weekend of countrywide violence sparked primarily by followers of the fiery Muqtada al-Sadr, fighting again was reported in Nasiriyah, Kut, Amarah and northern Baghdad. There were 15 Iraqis killed in Nasiriyah and another 15 dead in Amarah, coalition military officials said.

Al-Sadr left his fortress-like complex in Kufa and moved to an office near a sacred shrine in the holy city of Najaf, 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 militia were behind a wave of violence Sunday in which eight American soldiers and dozens of Iraqis 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."

In other developments:

President Bush acknowledged the U.S. faces "tough work" in Iraq. The president reiterated that the U.S. won't "cut and run from the people who long for freedom." He reaffirmed the administration's plan to turn over power to an interim government at the end of June.

A senior officer in Washington said U.S. military commanders have begun studying ways they might increase troops in Iraq should violence spread. Generals believe they have enough forces to handle the attacks, including the Shiite militia violence, but want to know what is available if the situation gets worse, said the officer, briefing reporters on condition of anonymity.

A Ukrainian solider was killed in clash in Iraqi city of Kut, the Defense Ministry said.

Fighting overnight between followers of radical Shiite cleric and British troops killed 15 Iraqis, coalition spokesman says.

Gunmen attacked Italian forces in the southern city of Nasiriyah on Tuesday. Fifteen Iraqis died and 12 Italians were wounded, the Italian Ministry of Defense said.

Security problems and the approaching June 30th transition in Iraq will top the agenda when British Prime Minister Tony Blair meets with President Bush next week, The New York Times reports.

The U.S. Army is conducting medical tests on a handful of soldiers who complained of illnesses after reported exposure to depleted uranium — a material used for tank armor and armor-piercing weapons.

Iraq is worse off now, after the U.S.-led invasion, than it was under Saddam Hussein, Hans Blix told a Danish newspaper Tuesday. He cited "the many casualties during the war and the many people who still die" in terror attacks.

In a series of U.S. television interviews Tuesday, L. Paul Bremer, the top civilian administrator in Iraq, conceded not all was going smoothly as the coalition approached a June 30 handover of sovereignty to the Iraqis.

"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.

"June 30 is the date. We're going to stick to it," he said.

After violence this weekend, Bremer canceled a trip to Washington this week, a Senate aide said Monday. No reason was given, the aide said.