Five Americans Dead in Iraq Clashes

Risking Holy War In Holy City

Fighters loyal to a radical Shiite Muslim cleric staged bloody attacks in central and southern Iraq on Saturday in the wake of the U.S. military's deepest foray into the holy city of Najaf a day earlier. More than three dozen insurgents were reported killed in the skirmishes.

Spurred by claims that U.S. gunfire had damaged the golden dome of Najaf's shrine of Imam Ali, militia members fighting on behalf of cleric Muqtada Sadr lashed out in the Baghdad slum of Sadr City, the city of Karbala and marshlands in the deep south.

Coalition spokesmen adamantly denied damaging the shrine, which Shiites revere.

The violence comes days after coalition forces and Sadr representatives appeared poised to strike a deal that would have allowed Sadr to leave Najaf, where he has been holed up for weeks. But at a news briefing Saturday, a spokesman for the coalition insisted that it had received no such peace proposal and renewed its call to bring Sadr to trial in connection with the assassination of a rival cleric.

Sadr's representatives said Friday that the U.S. military's claim that it was "seeking a peaceful solution" was a lie and vowed that American troops who approached the shrine would face "time bombs." On Saturday, scattered gunfights echoed through Najaf, while gunmen from Sadr's Al Mahdi army patrolled the center of the city and clusters of armed men stood guard on most street corners around the shrine.

Insurgents in Baghdad's Sadr City attacked U.S. troops with rocket-propelled grenades, damaging several vehicles. In all, U.S. forces in Baghdad killed 18 insurgents and wounded three, coalition forces reported. No U.S. soldiers were wounded, the coalition said.

Also, in Baghdad's Adhamiya district, U.S. troops raided the capital's largest mosque, Abu Hanifa, in search of weapons. The mosque is a Sunni one, known for its support of the uprising in Fallouja. No weapons were found.

In Karbala, south of Baghdad, at least four insurgent fighters died in fighting near the shrines of Imam Hussein and Imam Abbas — sites also revered by Shiites.

In Mosul, mortar shells landed in a crowd of men waiting to sign up for the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps, killing four and injuring 19. In northern Iraq, where coalition authorities have aggressively recruited and trained Iraqi police and defense forces, insurgents have targeted those volunteers as a way of undermining support for the programs.