At least one mortar round slammed to earth within 50 yards of firebrand cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's home Sunday in the holy city of Najaf. The popular, anti-American Shiite leader was at home but not hurt, an aide said.
A child and at least one guard were wounded in the attack, Sheik Sahib al-Amiri said.
Iraqi troops sealed the area near al-Sadr's home while the cleric's Mahdi Army militia surrounded the structure after the attack, al-Amiri said. Al-Sadr lives near the Imam Ali shrine, one of the most important holy places for Shiites.
Shortly after the attack, the cleric issued a statement calling for calm.
"I call upon all brothers to stay calm and I call upon the Iraqi army to protect the pilgrims as the Nawasib (militants) are aiming to attack Shiites everyday," he said, referring to Wednesday's commemoration marking the death of the Prophet Muhammad.
Najaf police chief called the assault a "cowardly attack" aimed at dividing the Iraqi people by those still loyal to Saddam Hussein.
"But this will not happen," Maj. Gen. Abbas Mi'adal told reporters near the house. "We are ready to confront any terrorist schemes and protect the pilgrims."
There were conflicting reports about the attack. Al-Sadr's aide said two mortar rounds fell near the home wounding two guards and a child, while the police chief said it was just one mortar round that wounded one guard and a child.
Al-Sadr said American troops were trying to drag Iraqis into "sectarian wars."
"I call upon my brothers not to be trapped by the Westerners' plots," he said.
Al-Sadr is a major force among Shiites, especially in Baghdad's Sadr City slum. His powerful militia is accused of carrying out sectarian revenge killings after the Feb. 22 bombing of another important Shiite shrine in Samarra.
The cleric, who was on a regional tour when the Samarra attack took place, cut short his visit and came back "in order for the country not to be pulled to street battles. I wanted to salvage the Iraqi people from these problems."
Al-Sadr has close ties to Iran. His militia launched two uprisings against U.S. troops in 2004.
In other recent developments:
On the Sunday morning talk shows, Bush administration officials, notably Rice and National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley talked about connections between Iran with the Iraq insurgency and al-Qaeda. Hadley told CBS News correspondent Gloria Borger on Face The Nation, "Clearly, there are contacts between Iran and elements in Iran and groups in Iraq that are promoting violence. We also have evidence of equipment that clearly was of Iranian origin showing up in improvised explosive devices that are killing Iraqis and killing the coalition." The Iraqi army reported on Sunday it had dispatched troops to investigate a report that 30 beheaded corpses were found in a village north of Baghdad. Brig. Saman Talabani, commander of the Iraqi Army 2nd Battalion, said the corpses were reported by residents in Mullah Eid, a village near the town of Buhriz, a former Saddam Hussein stronghold about 35 miles north of Baghdad. A 13-year-old boy was killed by a roadside bomb as he walked to school in the southern city of Basra, one of 20 victims of violence that continued to rattle Iraq Sunday. The explosion occurred at 7:30 a.m. as children were arriving for class in the center of Basra, about 340 miles southeast of Baghdad, police Capt. Mushtaq Kadim said. The school week begins Sunday and runs through Thursday in Iraq, where Friday is the day of prayer for Muslims. The Bush administration will ask Russia about a Pentagon report that Moscow turned over information on American troop movements and other military plans to Saddam Hussein during the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday. "Any implication that there were those from a foreign government who may have been passing information to the Iraqis prior to the invasion would be, of course, very worrying," Rice said. Moscow denied the report's findings. Freed British hostage Norman Kember returned home Saturday after four months in captivity in Iraq. Amid complaints that Kember and his fellow peace activists did not express gratitude to U.S. and British soldiers for their release, Kember said, "I do not believe that a lasting peace is achieved by armed force, but I pay tribute to their courage and thank those who played a part in my rescue."