U.S. Forces Raze Cleric's Office

Abrams said the number of militiamen active during the overnight battle was significantly less than the force of insurgents who rose up in early April, and the commander of the 1st Cavalry Division, Maj. Gen. Pete Chiarelli, said weekend reports that Sadr's militia had taken Sadr City were exaggerated.

Chiarelli said fighters loyal to Sadr may have seized some intersections and other positions, but they did so only briefly and were confined to small areas. He said U.S. forces had allowed the militia some leeway to avoid civilian casualties, since the fighters had surrounded themselves with civilians, using them as shields.

Abrams also alleged that the insurgents hid behind civilians.

"There were less than 200 or 300, in small teams, and they were routinely using women and children as human shields," Abrams said. "They would come out of an alleyway, duck behind children, pop up and shoot at one of my vehicles, knowing that return fire would kill innocents."

His account could not be independently confirmed.

While fewer in number, the militiamen have employed increasingly sophisticated tactics, said Lt. Col. Gary Volesky, a battalion commander who oversees combat operations in Sadr City. "They used to be uncoordinated, but now they use cover-and-conceal tactics and attacks from the rear, combined small-arms and RPG attacks and assaults from several sides," he said.

U.S. officials confirmed that a weekend attack on a major oil pipeline in the southern Faw peninsula caused a huge blaze and significantly reduced the flow of oil, the source of almost all of Iraq's foreign revenue. The officials would not disclose specifics for fear of encouraging similar acts of economic sabotage.

In Fallujah, a convoy of Marines and members of the new Fallujah Brigade entered the city from the east, the first joint patrol since the Marines announced a plan late last month to create a force of 1,500 Iraqis who were members of the army under Hussein. With the route into the city secured, the 1st Marine Division commander, Maj. Gen. James N. Mattis, met with the mayor of Fallujah and tribal leaders at the municipal building and discussed plans for rebuilding the battle-ravaged city. The Marines had initially demanded that rebels disarm and foreign fighters in the city surrender. None of that has happened.

In other developments, the U.S. officials announced three deaths around Iraq.

A soldier died Monday from gunshot wounds suffered during an earlier attack in the northern city of Mosul. A roadside bomb killed a soldier from the 1st Infantry Division and wounded another near the town of Samarra on Saturday morning. A soldier in the 16th Military Police Brigade was killed Sunday evening in an accidental collision between his Humvee and an American tank southwest of Baghdad.

Two construction workers, from South Africa and New Zealand, along with their Iraqi driver, were killed in a drive-by shooting in the northern city of Kirkuk, according to news service reports.

[On Tuesday, news services in the Netherlands reported that a Dutch soldier was killed and another injured in a grenade attack Monday in the southern town of Samawah, according to Reuters.]

Staff writer Bradley Graham in Washington and special correspondents Naseer Nouri in Baghdad and Saad Sarhan in Najaf contributed to this report.