IRAQ Fighting kills more than 300

The cleric blamed the coalition but called again for the cease fire.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Coalition forces battled militiamen loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in several Iraqi cities today, saying they killed about 300 militants in Najaf over two days of fighting. Battles in other Shiite areas of the country have killed dozens more, according to Iraqi authorities.
The death toll among the anti-coalition fighters was among the largest in a single continuing engagement since the end of the war to oust Saddam Hussein last year.
Two U.S. Marines and an American soldier were killed in Najaf on Thursday, and 12 troops were wounded, the military said. Fifteen U.S. soldiers were wounded in Baghdad.
Attack on militants
In Najaf, 100 miles south of Baghdad, U.S. helicopters attacked militants today who were hiding in a cemetery near the Imam Ali Shrine in the old city at Najaf's center, where smoke could be seen rising. The fighting began Thursday in Najaf and has since spread to other Shiite areas across the country, as the truce that marked an end to a similar rebellion two months ago appeared to have been shattered.
Al-Sadr blamed the United States for the violence in Iraq in a sermon read on his behalf today in the Kufa Mosque close to Najaf.
The interim government had called America "our partner," he said. "I say America is our enemy and the enemy of the people, and we will not accept its partnership."
Call for truce
Regardless, al-Sadr's aides called today for a return to the truce. They asked for the United Nations and Iraq's interim government to stop the violence.
"From our side we did not want to escalate the situation, because the situation in Najaf affects that of other Shiite areas," Mahmoud al-Sudani, a spokesman of al-Sadr in Baghdad, told reporters. "But the actions of the American troops have enraged the sons of these cities."
But the government said today it would not tolerate independent militias, including the Mahdi Army.
The militias "are considered criminal and terrorist groups that we do not condone and that we will fight," said Georges Sada, spokesman for interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. "We will fight them and will not allow their criminal actions in the various cities, irrespective of who they are or how big they are."
In April, the Mahdi Army militia launched sustained attacks on U.S. and coalition troops in several cities, the first major Shiite violence against the Americans. The confrontation dragged on for two months until Iraqi politicians and religious leaders negotiated a series of truces.
Each side blamed the other for breaking the cease-fire. The U.S. military accused the militants of repeatedly attacking police in Najaf, and al-Sadr loyalists accused U.S. forces of surrounding the cleric's house Monday.
Worst violence
Some of the worst violence hit the Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City, where the Health Ministry said 19 people were killed and 111 wounded during fighting Thursday and early today between U.S. troops and al-Sadr militants. Separate attacks blamed on al-Sadr's followers wounded 15 American soldiers in Baghdad.
Militiamen also seized four police stations in Amarah, 180 miles southeast of Baghdad, witnesses said.
Also today, helicopter gunships pounded militant positions in Najaf, while Italian soldiers exchanged gunfire with militants who attacked their positions and a police station in the southern city of Nasiriyah, an Italian military spokesman said. Clashes also were reported today between U.S. troops and insurgents north of the capital in Samarra.
In the Najaf cemetery, gunfire and explosions rang out as U.S. soldiers and Iraqi policemen advanced toward the area, witnesses said. The streets were otherwise deserted and shops were closed.
"The area near the [Imam Ali Shrine] is being subjected to a war," said Ahmed al-Shaibany, an official with al-Sadr's office in Najaf.
"Najaf is being subjected to ... total destruction.
"We call on the Islamic world and the civilized world to save the city."
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