U.S. forces repulse Shi'ite militia men in Najaf fighting

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NAJAF, Iraq -- Shi'ite militiamen yesterday launched their most intense attacks to date on U.S. forces in Najaf, prompting a measured response from Americans who feared angering the nation's Shi'ite majority. Up to 20 attackers were killed.

Meanwhile, the United States was considering a new commander for an Iraqi force taking control in the western city of Fallujah, turning to Maj. Gen. Mohammed Latif, who opposed Saddam Hussein, to replace another general.

In Baghdad, insurgents opened fire on U.S. soldiers guarding a weapons cache, killing one soldier and wounding two, the military said. Elsewhere, a Marine was killed by enemy fire in Anbar province, the western Iraqi province where the turbulent cities of Ramadi and Fallujah are located.

The deaths brought the U.S. toll to 153 since April 1 -- including 15 in May. At least 755 U.S. troops have died in Iraq since the war began in March 2003.

U.S. troops battling insurgents in west Baghdad pounded rebel positions with artillery fire last night, a series of eight or more heavy blasts that resounded through central Baghdad, the Army said.

U.S. troops in Najaf, south of the capital, clashed for hours with Shi'ite militiamen who barraged the U.S. base with mortars overnight, then opened fire in the afternoon from several directions.

Tank and machine-gun fire demolished a building that troops said was the source of shooting, raising a pillar of smoke. Apache attack helicopters circled but did not fire.

The U.S. military is deployed at the base and outside Najaf to crack down on radical Shi'ite cleric Sheik Muqtada al-Sadr and his militia. But the troops have held back to avoid angering Shi'ites, whose holiest site in Iraq -- the Imam Ali Shrine--? is about 3 miles from the U.S. base.

Lt. Col. Pat White said American troops would "maintain our defense posture" until someone "much, much higher than me makes a different decision."

He estimated that 20 militiamen were killed in the battle and said there were few civilian casualties because troops were using precision fire. "I think every soldier here understands the sensitivities of the situation," he said.

At a Najaf hospital, one dead Iraqi policeman and 16 wounded civilians were brought in, including a woman.

Sheik al-Sadr's forces have stepped up attacks recently -- apparently either to pressure U.S. officials to negotiate or goad troops into retaliating. On Saturday, Sheik al-Sadr's Mahdi's Army militia attacked a military supply convoy outside the southern city of Amarah, killing two American soldiers.

Fallujah residents have been celebrating what many saw as a victory over U.S. forces as Marines pulled back from their monthlong siege of the city and an Iraqi force -- made up of Saddam-era soldiers -- moved in. U.S. officials have acknowledged they did not screen Iraqi commanders for their ties to Saddam before letting the brigade take over.

The U.S. move to have Gen. Latif lead the Fallujah Brigade came amid complaints from some Iraqis that the current commander, Maj. Gen. Jassim Mohammed Saleh, a former member of Saddam's Republican Guard, may have been involved in repression by the ousted regime.

Hoshyar Zibari, Iraq's Kurdish foreign minister, said there were reports Gen. Saleh was involved in crushing a 1991 uprising by Kurds against Saddam's rule.

Gen. Latif does "not have such problems" and at one point was imprisoned by Saddam, Mr. Zibari said.