Widespread Fighting In Iraq
Coalition troops battling a two-pronged insurgency clashed with Iraqis in at least six cities Wednesday, and one radical cleric warned his country could become "the next Vietnam."
A U.S. general vowed to "destroy" the forces of the cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, and urged him to surrender. Al-Sadr said he'd rather die than be captured.
Violence spread from the southern city of Najaf to the northern town of Hawijah. Shiite militiamen took control of two towns.
Two more Marines were killed in Fallujah. A day earlier, a dozen were killed in the nearby town of Ramadi. The U.S. death toll in the war stood at 628.
Witnesses say 40 people were killed when a U.S. 500-pound laser-guided bomb hit a mosque compound in Fallujah.
Marines waged a six-hour battle around the mosque with the militants holed up inside before a Cobra helicopter fired a Hellfire missile at the base of its minaret, and an F-16 dropped the bomb, said Marine Lt. Col. Brennan Byrne.
The fight began when a Marine vehicle was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade fired from the mosque, wounding five Marines, Byrne said. A large U.S. force converged on the mosque, located in Fallujah's Nazzal neighborhood. Now the U.S. controls 25 percent of the city, Byrne said.
Since Sunday, 32 Americans, two other coalition soldiers and more than 190 Iraqis had been killed in fighting across the country. The Iraqi figure did not include those killed at the mosque.
In major developments:
Bremer conceded that not all was going smoothly as the coalition approached a June 30 handover of sovereignty to the Iraqis, but said Iraq remains "on track" toward democracy.
But lawmakers are increasingly voicing concerns that more forces are needed to secure Iraq before the deadline.
"The answer is I think we need more troops. I think that the military thinks we need more troops," Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., told the CBS News Early Show.
Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld said American commanders in Iraq would get additional troops if needed. None has asked so far, he said.
Rumsfeld said Tuesday that U.S. forces launched the operation in Fallujah to capture insurgents involved in attacks on Americans, including the ones who mutilated and burned the bodies of four U.S. civilians ambushed last week. He said the troops had pictures and names of those involved and were not attacking the town as a whole.
But militants, who have wide support among the population, dug in and fiercely resisted the U.S. raids into the city center and attacked American troops encircling the city of 200,000.
The intensity of the resistance apparently prompted U.S. forces to bring in heavy weapons such as helicopters, tanks and AC130 gunships that have pounded suspected militant sites in the densely populated neighborhoods.
In nearby Ramadi on Tuesday, gunmen in a cemetery opened fire on U.S. patrols. A Marine commander confirmed that 12 Marines died in two battles that raged over three hours, one of them across a mile-long front.
In a significant expansion of the fighting, Iraqis protesting in solidarity with Fallujah residents clashed with U.S. troops in the northern town of Hawijah, near Kirkuk. Eight Iraqis were killed, and 10 Iraqis and four Americans were wounded, police said.
While Fallujah has long been a stronghold for Sunni Muslim insurgents, the battle against al-Sadr's Shiite militia erupted this weekend, taking a heavy toll in both American and Iraqi lives.
Clashes continued overnight between militiamen from the black-garbed gunmen of al-Sadr's al-Mahdi Army, who may number 10,000, and coalition troops in Kut, Karbala and the mainly Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City in Baghdad.
At least 12 Iraqis were killed in Kut and four in Baghdad, along with two Iranians caught in the crossfire in Karbala, according to doctors.
The militia had virtual control of Kufa and Karbala. Militiamen in Karbala clashed with Polish patrols that moved through their areas.
Bulgaria asked the U.S. to send troops to reinforce its battalion of 450 soldiers in the southern city of Karbala, reports CBS News' Lisa Barron.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said its troops were forced to evacuate Kut early Wednesday after al-Sadr forces hit the position with mortar fire throughout the night.
Militiamen battled Spanish soldiers in Najaf, south of Baghdad. An Iraqi taxi driver was killed in the crossfire, a hospital official said.
Gunmen attacked a police car Tuesday night in Youssifiya, south of Baghdad, killing two policemen.
Al-Sadr and his militia are unpopular among most of Iraq's Shiite majority, and there was no sign that the Shiite public in the south was rallying to their side to launch a wider popular uprising.
But the week's fighting showed a strength that few expected from the al-Mahdi Army, and moderate Shiite clerics and leaders have not raised their voices strongly against the uprising.
And there were signs of sympathy for the Sadr revolt by Sunni insurgents, who have been fighting the U.S.-led occupation for months and have often chided their Shiite countrymen for not joining in.
"I call upon the American people to stand beside their brethren, the Iraqi people, who are suffering an injustice by your rulers and the occupying army, to help them in the transfer of power to honest Iraqis," al-Sadr said in a statement. "Otherwise, Iraq will be another Vietnam for America and the occupiers."