[ppi] [ppiindia] U.S. Kills Scores of Insurgents in Najaf

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U.S. Kills Scores of Insurgents in Najaf=20

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. troops fought militiamen overnight near Najaf,=20
killing 64 gunmen and destroying an anti-aircraft gun. An American=20
soldier was killed Tuesday in Baghdad, raising the U.S. death toll=20
for April to 115 =97 the same number lost during the entire invasion of=20
Iraq (news - web sites) last year.=20

The battle outside Najaf was one of the heaviest with the militia as=20
U.S. troops try to increase the pressure on gunmen loyal to radical=20
cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. U.S. troops moved into a base in Najaf that=20
Spanish troops are abandoning, but promised to stay away from the=20
sensitive Shiite shrines at the heart of the southern city.=20

As the United Nations (news - web sites) prepares to discuss the form=20
of a caretaker government due to take power June 30, U.S.-appointed=20
Iraqi leaders complained that the administration won't have real=20
sovereignty as promised by American administrators for months.=20

"I think the sovereignty will be weak and not complete," said Mahmoud=20
Othman, a member of the Governing Council. For "the security=20
situation, there will still be the United States," he said.=20

He also expressed worries there will be limits as to what laws it can=20
pass. If the government can't make laws or provide security "it will=20
not be real sovereignty," he said. "The less sovereignty there is,=20
the less the possibility that the government will be able to work and=20
achieve its tasks."=20

U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has proposed that the Governing Council be=20
dissolved and caretaker government made up of nonpartisan experts be=20
created to run Iraq until elections in January. Washington has said=20
that since Iraqi security forces are still not able to fight=20
insurgents, U.S. forces will hold security powers even after the=20
handover.=20

Also Tuesday, a Red Cross team visited Saddam Hussein (news - web=20
sites) to see his conditions in U.S. custody, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt=20
said, but he refused to say where the visit took place. It was the=20
first since the Red Cross visited the ousted Iraqi leader in=20
February.=20

The battles in the south Monday evening took place on the east side=20
of the Euphrates River, across from Kufa and Najaf, Kimmitt said.=20
According to a list of Iraqi casualties from the fight at both of=20
Najaf's hospitals, almost all the dead were young men of fighting=20
age, suggesting they may have been militiamen.=20

The first came in the afternoon, when Shiite militiamen opened fire=20
on a U.S. patrol, and seven insurgents were killed. Hours later, a M1=20
tank was attacked with rocket-propelled grenades, triggering a heavy=20
battle in which warplanes destroyed an anti-aircraft gun belonging to=20
the militia, and 57 gunmen were killed, Kimmitt said.=20

Night video taken by the Associated Press Television News between=20
Najaf and the nearby town of Kufa showed U.S. army helicopters flying=20
low over smoke rising from an area in the distance amid flashes of=20
gunfire.=20

In Fallujah, Marines pressed ahead with plans to send patrols into=20
the city alongside Iraqi security forces, despite a bloody battle=20
Monday with Sunni insurgents at a mosque. Blue-shirted Iraqi police=20
crept through an abandoned warehouse district, training guns on empty=20
doorways and rooftops as part of U.S. Marine-led preparations for the=20
patrols Thursday.=20

One Marine was killed Monday, and tank fire toppled the mosque's=20
minaret, which commanders said was being used by gunmen. The=20
violence, in which eight Iraqi insurgents were killed, tested the=20
U.S. decision to continue a political track in resolving the Fallujah=20
standoff.=20

On Sunday, the United States backed down from threats to launch a=20
full-scale assault, instead announcing it was extending a fragile=20
cease-fire and would start the patrols.=20

The battle north of Najaf broke out Monday night and lasted several=20
hours, with helicopter gunships called in for support, a military=20
spokesman said.=20

An al-Sadr aide in Najaf, Mustaq al-Khafaji, accused Americans of=20
trying to advance toward Kufa. "We will face the Americans whenever=20
they show up," he said.=20

U.S. authorities have vowed to capture al-Sadr and uproot his=20
militia, the al-Mahdi Army, which launched a bloody uprising at the=20
beginning of April. Al-Mahdi gunmen still dominate Najaf, Kufa and=20
Karbala =97 although fewer were seen on the streets in Najaf and Kufa=20
Tuesday.=20

About 2,000 troops are deployed outside Najaf, but the military is=20
having to tread carefully. Any action that even brings the=20
possibility of harm to the sacred Imam Ali Shrine at its heart could=20
turn the limited al-Sadr revolt into a widespread uprising by Iraq's=20
Shiite majority.=20

Top administrator L. Paul Bremer heightened warnings about the=20
reported stockpiling of weapons in "mosques, shrines and schools" in=20
Najaf.=20

"The coalition certainly will not tolerate this situation," Bremer=20
said in a statement to residents of Najaf. "The restoration of these=20
holy places to calm places of worship must begin immediately."=20

Bremer's spokesman, Dan Senor, would not elaborate on what action=20
would be taken and noted that "those places of worship are not=20
protected under the Geneva Convention" if they are used to store=20
weapons.=20

About 200 soldiers on Monday moved into a base that Spanish forces=20
are abandoning in the modern part of the Kufa-Najaf urban area, three=20
miles from the shrine. Al-Sadr's office is next to the shrine.=20

In Madrid, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said Spain has=20
completed the withdrawal of its troops, recalling his campaign pledge=20
to bring them home unless the United Nations took military and=20
political control of the occupation.=20

"We should not have gone to Iraq. Therefore, we had to return as soon=20
as possible," Zapatero said, drawing applause in Parliament.=20

The Baghdad attack Tuesday killed a U.S. soldier and wounded another=20
in the Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City, a stronghold of al-Sadr's Al-
Mahdi Army militia, Kimmitt told reporters.=20

The death brought to 115 the number of U.S. troops killed in combat=20
in the past 27 days =97 the same number of Americans killed during the=20
two-month invasion of Iraq that toppled Saddam.=20

Meanwhile, Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov said his country's=20
troops were "not prepared" for the kind of fighting they are doing in=20
Iraq and need "immediate and substantial military backup" from the=20
coalition.=20

Speaking in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia after a visit to the 485-
member contingent Sunday near Karbala, Parvanov said he wants the=20
troops be relocated to a new camp outside Karbala by June 30. Karbala=20
has been the scene of recent heavy fighting by al-Sadr's followers.=20

British Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites) said Tuesday=20
Britain has no plans to send more troops to Iraq.=20

"The advice that we have now is that we have sufficient troops to do=20
the job," Blair said at a news conference. Britain currently has=20
7,500 troops in southern Iraq.=20



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