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NAJAF, Iraq - Militants loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr kept their hold on a revered shrine, and clashes flared in Najaf on Saturday, raising fears that a resolution to the crisis in the holy city could collapse amid bickering between Shiite leaders.
An unofficial mediator pleaded with Sadr to disarm his militants, pull them out of the shrine and disband his militia immediately. "We are in a race with time," said Hussein al-Sadr, a distant relative of the cleric.
Clashes between U.S. troops and Sadr fighters were brief but heavy, punctuated by gunfire and explosions, with one blast hitting the street 50 yards from the Imam Ali Shrine at the center of the standoff.
Marine Capt. Carrie Batson said U.S. troops came under mortar attack in the Old City and destroyed two militant mortar positions with gunfire and an Apache helicopter attack.
The fighting died down after about 45 minutes, returning the city to the relative calm it has seen.
Still, the flareup reflected the danger that peace efforts could fall apart once again, mired in last-minute delays. Sadr's Mahdi Army militia held the Imam Ali Shrine, their stronghold throughout this month's fighting, and while it has agreed to hand it over to Shiite religious authorities, the two sides were squabbling over how to do so.
Meanwhile Saturday, attacks targeting U.S. and Iraqi forces across the country killed a U.S. soldier, a Polish soldier and five Iraqis.
The violence in Najaf, which had spread to other Shiite communities, posed the greatest risk to the interim government of Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. Government officials had threatened to raid the mosque to set an example to other insurgent groups, but such an operation risked turning the nation's majority Shiites against the government.
The standoff has frustrated many in Najaf, who have suffered cuts in their water and electricity, had their streets rocked by explosions and seen scores of their neighbors killed since the fighting started Aug. 5.
"All parties are stalling," said Saeed Mohammed, 41. "There has been no change, only more shelling and clashes that have hurt the city even more."
As the crisis continued, Sadr aide Sheik Awas al-Khafaji said Saturday that kidnappers had lifted their threat to kill a U.S. journalist abducted in the southern city of Nasiriyah with his Iraqi translator Aug. 13.
The kidnappers, calling themselves the Martyrs Brigade, threatened Thursday to kill Micah Garen, 36, of New York, within 48 hours if U.S. troops did not leave Najaf.
Al-Khafaji said Saturday that mediators told him the death threat had been removed and they were working for Garen's release.
"We hope that he will be released today and our efforts would be fruitful," he said Saturday. "As for the Iraqi translator, we have received assurances that he is going to be released with the journalist."
Also Saturday, coalition forces arrested Maj. Gen. Jaadan Mohammed al-Alwan, the police chief of volatile Anbar province, accusing him of corruption and criminal activity, including extortion, embezzlement and accepting bribes, the U.S. military said.
Violence continued Saturday elsewhere across Iraq:
Insurgents bombed an oil pipeline in Berjisiya, 20 miles southwest of the southern city of Basra, setting it ablaze, said Lt. Mohammed al-Mousawi of the Iraqi National Guard. The pipeline had been closed for a week because of threats, and the attack did not appear likely to effect exports.
Attackers fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a U.S. military vehicle in Baghdad, killing a soldier and wounding two, the military said.
A Polish soldier was killed and six were injured when a car bomb exploded near their convoy outside the city of Hillah, 60 miles south of Baghdad; Polish troops exchanged gunfire with the insurgents, killing some of them, Maj. Krzysztof Plazuk said.
An Iraqi National Guard soldier was killed, and two guardsmen and three civilians were wounded when a bomb exploded in the northern city of Mosul, a guard official said.
Assailants detonated a roadside bomb after a U.S. convoy drove by in Baqouba, 35 miles outside of Baghdad, killing two civilians and injuring four, a hospital official said. A separate roadside bomb exploded in Sabtiya, near Baqouba, after a U.S. convoy passed, killing a street cleaner and wounding an Iraqi.
In Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, gunmen shot dead Lt. Col. Saad Smayer, a senior police officer, as he left home for work, police said.