Cease-fire in southern cities appears to be all but ruined

Smoke rose over the dun-colored, flat-roofed houses of the city 100 miles south of Baghdad.

Fighting has rocked Kufa since Shiite leaders announced May 27 that al-Sadr had agreed on a formula to end the confrontation with the Americans in Najaf and Kufa, which together contain some of the most sacred shrines in Shia Islam.

However, the Army has retained the right to mount armed patrols, which al-Sadr's militia, the al-Mahdi Army, considers a provocation. The Americans are reluctant to stop patrols until an Iraqi force is ready to assume security responsibility. Most of the police deserted after al-Sadr launched his rebellion in April.

CNN, which has a correspondent embedded with the 1st Armored Division in the area, said the fighting began after about 100 U.S. soldiers rolled into the center of Kufa early today in search of militiamen who had fired mortar rounds at an American base between Najaf and Kufa.

CNN quoted U.S. officials as estimating that about 30 militiamen were killed. Four American soldiers were lightly wounded. CNN said troops found several rounds of mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and rifles hidden in a school in Kufa.

Although Najaf is relatively quiet, daily clashes in Kufa have rendered the truce almost meaningless. The Americans, who consider al-Sadr a gangster, have refused direct negotiations with him but have agreed to halt "offensive operations."

Following today's initial clashes, residents of Kufa ventured carefully into the streets, examining charred market stalls and other signs of battle damage. At least one large crater pocked a dirt road. Merchants showed twisted piles of molten debris which had once been their sources of livelihood.

Others picked up shattered belongings amid the remains of their dwellings damaged in the exchange. One older man picked up the tail of a mortar round that had landed nearby and shook his head as he showed it to reporters.

The uprising began two months ago after the U.S.-led coalition closed al-Sadr's newspaper, arrested a top aide and announced an arrest warrant charging him with murder in the April 2003 death of a moderate cleric in Najaf.

U.S. officials have long sought to suppress the outspoken anti-American al-Sadr, son of a revered religious leader believed have been murdered by Saddam Hussein's agents in 1999.

The fighting in Najaf and Kufa has raised fears of splits in the majority Shiite community, which aspires to political power in Iraq after the U.S. occupation ends June 30. Senior Shiite clerics oppose al-Sadr but have refrained from trying to silence him for fear of worsening communal splits and losing influence at a time when the young firebrand's anti-U.S. rhetoric is finding greater resonance among Iraqis.

Late Wednesday, a rocket struck a U.S. base in the northern oil-producing center of Kirkuk, causing a fire which spread to an ammunition storage area. That sent off thunderous explosions which persisted late into the night, although U.S. officials said no one was killed or seriously injured.

In the northern city of Mosul, a woman working as a translator for the Americans was killed by four unknown attackers, according to an official at a city hospital. Iraqis working for the occupation authority have long been targeted by insurgents trying to drive a wedge between the Americans and the Iraqi people.

And in the multiethnic city of Kirkuk, masked men attempted to gun down Irfan Kirkukli, the province's deputy governor, in an ambush on his convoy as he drove to his office, said Maj. Gen. Anwar Mohammed Amin, commander of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps.

Kirkukli's bodyguards returned fire and the attackers fled. Kirkukli was not harmed.

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