Iraq

Soldiers battle in two holy cities

KARBALA, Iraq - U.S. soldiers battled insurgents led by a rebel Shiite cleric on Friday, killing scores of Iraqis, as the cleric delivered a defiant, derisive sermon that dismissed President Bush's expressions of regret for the abuse of Iraqi prisoners.

"What kind of peace could come from you or your agents when you feel pleasure at torturing prisoners?" the cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, said to cheering supporters at his mosque in Kufa. "How are you going to control the world when you can't control a few soldiers here and there? If anyone did this to one of your people, would you accept it?"

One of al-Sadr's senior aides, in similar vein, went before Friday worshipers in the southern city of Basra waving what he claimed were photographs of three Iraqi women being raped at a British-run prison. The aide, Sheik Abdul-Sattar Bahadli, announced that anyone capturing a British female soldier would be allowed to keep her as a slave, while anyone capturing a British male soldier would be paid $350. He seemed to suggest the prison abuse justified such actions.

The Americans pursued Sadr's forces in the warrens and alleyways of two of the holiest Shiite cities, Karbala and Najaf, where the rebels have barricaded themselves for more than a month. Militiamen fired grenades and AK-47s at more than 100 soldiers, who moved low along walls and inched their way down a milelong stretch of road, returning fire as roadside bombs exploded.

The soldiers killed at least 25 insurgents here, 12 in Najaf and at least 41 in two separate battles around Kufa. There were no U.S. casualties reported Friday, but a Pole and an Algerian working for a Polish television network were killed by gunmen as they drove through the town of Mahmudiya on the road from Baghdad to Najaf. A Polish cameraman was wounded.

The firefights were the most intense since the U.S. military started an operation here on Tuesday night to crush Sadr's thousands-strong militia, called the Mahdi Army. The resistance seems to indicate that many of the militiamen are prepared to fight to the death.

More than 2,500 U.S. soldiers have surrounded Najaf but have refrained from a wholesale invasion because its golden-domed central shrine is one of Shiite Islam's holiest sites. On Thursday, U.S. soldiers took over the governor's mansion on the city's outskirts and installed a new governor. Powerful Shiite politicians and religious leaders have called for Sadr to withdraw his militia.

MACON, Miss. - Former captive Thomas Hamill will be released from a hospital in Germany in time to return home early today, his town's mayor said Friday.

Hamill, 44, escaped his Iraqi captors Sunday and has been treated for an arm injury at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. He was wounded when his convoy was ambushed April 9.

Hamill said earlier this week that he was particularly looking forward to quiet time with his family. As a result, Macon Mayor Dorothy Baker Hines said Thursday that plans for a parade and other celebrations in his hometown were called off for now. A family spokeswoman said Hamill would make no statements at the airport or immediately after he arrives home.

NAJAF, Iraq - Six El Salvadoran soldiers, nominated for U.S. Army medals, were cited for bravery by their own country Friday for fighting off an ambush against a convoy carrying six U.S. officials.

American diplomat Phil Kosnett, who heads the Coalition Provisional Authority in this Najaf, Iraq, credited the soldiers for saving his life after insurgents ambushed the three-vehicle convoy on the road from Baghdad on March 5. Kosnett has recommended the six be awarded the Bronze Star.

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