Militants clash with U.S. forces

In Kufa, explosions and gunfire rock the city.
KUFA, Iraq (AP) -- Militants loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr clashed today with U.S. forces near a mosque in this Shiite holy city, and hospital officials said at least three Iraqis were killed and 16 others wounded.
In Baghdad today, a car bomb exploded in a Sunni Muslim district, killing at least two people and wounding about 20 others, including five children, police said. It was the second fatal car bombing in the Iraqi capital in two days.
Explosions rocked the industrial sections of Kufa, where Shiite leaders have been struggling to save a shaky cease-fire. Many of the injured suffered shrapnel wounds from a mortar round that missed a U.S. convoy, witnesses said.
Gunfire reverberated through the largely deserted streets as fighters loyal to al-Sadr took positions near the mosque, where gunbattles have raged in past days.
Fighting continues
Clashes have plagued the city nearly every day since Shiite leaders announced an agreement by al-Sadr to end a two-month old standoff with the Americans here and in the twin city of Najaf.
One proposal under discussion calls for al-Sadr's militia to withdraw from Najaf over a 72-hour period. In return, American troops would stay away from Shiite holy sites in Najaf and Kufa -- where U.S. and militia forces have battled since al-Sadr launched an anti-occupation uprising in early April.
Ahmad al-Shibani, an official from al-Sadr's office in Najaf, said al-Sadr's movement will likely have objections to the deal because it calls for them to surrender their weapons and provides for joint patrols including U.S. soldiers and Iraqi police.
Car bombs
The Baghdad car bomb exploded in the city's northern Azimiyah district. Witnesses said a convoy of sport utility vehicles, favored by Western contractors, had passed by moments before the blast.
Police Lt. Mohammed Abdul-Aziz said two Iraqis were killed and about 20 injured, but other preliminary estimates put the death toll at four.
On Tuesday, a car bomb killed three people and injured about 20 near the headquarters of the pro-American Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. Security was stepped up today at the PUK's headquarters city of Sulaimaniyah, with police setting up more checkpoints and increasing the number of patrols there.
The blast Tuesday occurred only a half-hour after about 400 people left a party celebrating the 29th anniversary of the founding of the PUK, whose militia fought alongside American soldiers in the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein last year.
Party leader Jalal Talabani was not in the office when the blast occurred, a party spokesman said.
The explosion at the PUK headquarters was part of a series of blasts that shook the center of the Iraqi capital Tuesday as a new, post-occupation government for Iraq was announced. Ghazi al-Yawer, a U.S.-educated tribal sheik and critic of the U.S.-led occupation, was named president.
Roadside bomb
Outside the capital Tuesday, a roadside bomb exploded near the U.S. military base, killing 11 Iraqis and wounding 23, near Beiji, 150 miles north of Baghdad. Two 1st Infantry Division soldiers were also wounded, the military said.
U.S. officials say insurgents will step up attacks in the days leading to the June 30 transfer of sovereignty from the U.S.-led occupation authority to the interim Iraqi government.
The new prime minister, Iyad Allawi, told a ceremony announcing the new government that Iraqis, "like other peoples of the world," do not want to live under foreign occupation but still will need American and other multinational forces "to help in defeating the enemies of Iraq."
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