IRAQ Mission to halt battle stalls Explosion kills six, injures 35, and sets fire to building

In other violence, an Iraqi photographer was shot in the leg.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- A delegation of Iraqis meant to help negotiate an end to an uprising in Najaf was forced to delay its mission today when it could not get a military escort for the dangerous journey to meet the radical cleric at the center of the standoff in the holy city.
It was an embarrassing turn of events for Iraqi leaders seeking a political victory to give them credibility as they try to chart the country's new course and end the fighting in Najaf -- their worst crisis since taking power in the end of June.
As the delegation waited in Baghdad, a mortar round hit a busy street in the city several miles away, killing six people and wounding 35, the Interior Ministry and hospital officials said.
Fire, damaged cars
The blast on al-Rasheed Street set one building on fire and damaged seven cars, said Col. Adnan Abdul-Rahman, of the Interior Ministry.
Capt. Amer Nouman at the Medical City hospital said the blast killed five people, including two children. Three of the bodies were burned beyond recognition, he said. He said the hospital also received 30 people who were wounded in the explosion.
In other violence, An Iraqi photographer working for Reuters news agency was shot in the leg during fighting in Najaf, journalists in the agency's Baghdad bureau said.
The photographer, who was not identified, was shot during a firefight between U.S. forces and fighters loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, journalists said on condition of anonymity.
The wounds were not life-threatening and the photographer was being treated at a U.S. Army combat hospital, the journalists said.
Ohio soldier killed
On Sunday, Army Sgt. Daniel Michael Shepherd, 23, died in Ar Ramabi, Iraq, after his M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle hit a homemade bomb, U.S. Army spokeswoman Martha Rudd said. He served with the Army's 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, and was based in Fort Riley, Kan. He grew up in Elyria, southwest of Cleveland.
His unit was due home in less than a month. Friends say he never got to see his infant son.
Mediators
The 60 mediators from Iraq's National Conference had planned to leave early today to meet radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and appeal to his followers to put down their weapons and join Iraq's political process. However, by early afternoon, they still remained at the conference site in central Baghdad.
"The U.S. troops and Iraqi police refused to escort the delegation, they are afraid for its safety because they themselves are being targeted by militants," said delegate Ahmad al Hayali.
The Interior Ministry said it had received no request to provide security for the delegation.
"We are prepared to provide all kinds of protection to the delegation from Baghdad to Najaf and back," Interior Ministry spokesman Sabah Kadhim said.
The conference itself was considered a major target for militants waging a 16-month-old insurgency in the country and an explosion, reportedly from a mortar, shook the area near the building today.
Al-Sadr aide Ali al-Yassiry, who said he came to the conference to talk to U.N. officials about the Najaf violence, said he was slightly injured in the blast.
Al-Sadr's followers have said they were boycotting the gathering, though several members of his movement have been seen there in recent days.
Meanwhile, explosions and gunfire shook the streets of Najaf today as the clashes escalated. U.S. troops entered the flashpoint Old City neighborhood, where al-Sadr's al-Mahdi army militia was based, and U.S. tanks encircled the Old City.
The militants have battling U.S. troops from Najaf's vast cemetery and revered Imam Ali Shrine since Aug. 5, when a 2-month old cease-fire broke down.
The conference delegation to Najaf was bringing a peace plan that demanded al-Sadr pull his men out of the shrine, where they have taken refuge, disband his militia and join in the country's political process in exchange for an amnesty for his fighters.
Al-Sadr aides said they welcomed the mission, but not the peace proposal.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan also has offered to play "a facilitating role" to help end the violence if all sides agree, U.N. Spokesman Fred Eckhard said Monday.
He said the decision came after Annan spoke to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, Iran's Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi, and the new U.N. Iraq envoy Ashraf Jehangir Qazi.
Also, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano told Italian state radio Monday that if official mediation were requested, the Vatican would "very willingly" provide it, adding that Pope John Paul II has never declined such requests.
That gained support from al-Sadr's aides.
The three-day National Conference in Baghdad was supposed to be a revolutionary moment in Iraq's democratic transformation post-Saddam Hussein, an unprecedented gathering of 1,300 Iraqis from all ethnic and religious groups for vigorous debate over their country's course.
Violence takes precedence
But the violence in Najaf, which resumed Sunday after cease-fire talks broke down, has diverted the gathering's attention.
Some delegates threatened to walk out in protest of the government's effort to crack down on the militants, while others called for al-Sadr to abandon his uprising. Still others said the crisis only made the conference more relevant.
The conference was to vote today on members of a national council that will serve as a watchdog over the interim government before elections expected in January. But the conference decided not to hold the vote until the delegation returned from Najaf.