BAGHDAD, Aug. 7 -- Clashes between U.S.-led forces and fighters loyal to Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr continued for a third day in the holy city of Najaf and the large Shiite slum in Baghdad called Sadr City, where gunmen set up illegal checkpoints and ran openly through the streets with weapons.
Officials at three hospitals in Najaf said 23 civilians were killed and 121 wounded in the day's fighting, which subsided at night. It was the fiercest combat in months and posed a daunting challenge to Iraq's interim government as it struggles to bring stability to a country wracked by a violent, persistent insurgency.
As part of a plan to defuse the situation, Prime Minister Ayad Allawi on Saturday offered amnesty to insurgents who turn in their weapons and provide information to local police. The amnesty program, which Allawi had promised since taking office on June 28, will last 30 days and will not apply to those suspected of major crimes such as murder, rape and destruction of property. It also does not apply to people already in custody.
In another development, the interim government closed the Baghdad offices of Arab satellite network al-Jazeera for a month, banning it for allegedly inciting violence.
On Saturday night, nearly a dozen bombs exploded in the center of the capital near the fortified compound that houses the interim government and the U.S. Embassy. Such late-night explosions have become more frequent in recent days; two hotels in Baghdad housing foreign journalists and contract workers were attacked Thursday and Friday nights. No one was injured.
In Najaf, an uneasy calm settled over the city after dark. Members of Sadr's militia left the vast Wadi al-Salam cemetery, where they had taken up positions during the last three days to launch rockets and grenades. The Marines, who had been fighting the militants along with the Iraqi police and National Guard, said large caches of weapons, including rocket-propelled grenades and explosive-making materials, were found in the cemetery.
The Marines said Sadr's militia had used the cemetery as an operating base, violating the conditions of a truce negotiated in June after a two-month uprising that left hundreds dead.
The militia, known as the Mahdi Army, "kidnapped their enemies, including innocent civilians, bringing them to the cemetery for torture, execution and burial," the U.S. military said in a statement.
Ghalib Hashim Jazaeri, Najaf's chief of police, said Iraqi security forces staged an unsuccessful raid on Sadr's home in Najaf on Saturday, the Los Angeles Times reported. "We surrounded the house, but he was not at home," he said.
U.S. and Iraqi security forces said fighting broke out on Thursday after members of the militia attacked an Iraqi police station. As the Iraqi forces asked for help from the Marines, the violence escalated rapidly, spreading to other cities in the south and to Sadr City in the capital.
Through his associates, Sadr called on his militia to rise up against the U.S. military and its allies. Insurgents responded, taking to the streets and battling coalition forces.
It was not clear whether the fighting had ended in Najaf on Saturday night or would resume at daybreak. The streets were virtually empty as the sun went down, except for a group of gunmen who chanted Sadr's name as they rode around in the back of a U.S. military truck that they apparently had seized. The city had no electricity or power, and a large market in the center of the city was burned to the ground.
The U.S. military said Friday that more than 300 militant fighters were killed in the first two days of clashes. A spokesman for Sadr in Baghdad denied the claim.
Allawi said Iraqi security forces arrested more than 1,200 people in connection with the fighting. He said the military operations were not aimed at Sadr or his followers and that he did not believe the insurgents were members of Sadr's Mahdi Army -- a statement that angered some of Sadr's top associates.
