Eight U.S. Troops Killed in Shiite Uprising

The violence appeared to open a fresh front in resistance to the year-old occupation, during which more U.S. soldiers have been killed than in the war that overthrew the government of President Saddam Hussein. Attacks on U.S.-led forces had been focused in the so-called Sunni Triangle west and north of Baghdad, where residents with ties to the former government mounted hit-and-run attacks on U.S. patrols. Waves of terrorist bombings have also targeted Westerners and Iraqis who have worked with the occupation.

Sadr loomed as an additional threat, having organized and armed a militia in the months since the war. But except for a firefight in October in Sadr City's central square -- an encounter U.S. commanders termed an ambush -- the Mahdi Army had not raised arms against occupation forces.

The posture changed over the weekend, however, with Sadr's call for attacks on forces he said were trying to impose their will on Iraq.

"The Sayyid Moqtada Sadr did not call for resistance directly, but the demands of the Iraqi people are not being met," said Abu Haider Ghalib Garawi, a Sadr official introduced as a leader of the Mahdi Army.

"But there's no more patience. We can't guarantee the behavior of the wise people and the ordinary people."

Garawi spoke under the swaying lanterns of the main Kufa mosque, where militiamen cradling AK-47s squatted on thin woven mats and a plainclothes policeman strode about smiling, an American-issued Glock 9mm pistol on his hip. Much of Kufa's American-trained police force joined the side of the Sadr forces when the firefight started in late morning. By 2 p.m., the police checkpoint at the edge of town was manned by militiamen. White-shirted traffic police remained on duty but said the Mahdi Army was in charge.

A half-hour later, the checkpoint was abandoned and the Sadr followers -- most of them unarmed -- boarded buses to return to Baghdad, where most had traveled from the previous night. "Moqtada has ordered us to withdraw," said one, carrying an AK-47.

The order suggested that the day's events may have been intended not as a declaration of war on the occupation so much as a taste of what Sadr's organization might unleash if senior occupation officials persist in their efforts to neutralize the junior cleric.

Senior Sadr officials in Kufa said the next demonstration of power would be a general strike.

Immediately after the Kufa firefight, Sadr representatives arrived to consult with officials from the Badr Organization, the militia of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, and a delegation from the Dawa party, the two most prominent Shiite parties represented on the U.S.-appointed Governing Council.

But armed men from Fallujah and Baqubah -- centers of resistance in the Sunni heartland west and north of Baghdad -- also appeared at the mosque, offering their support.

The Kufa demonstration began with armed marchers taking over the city's courthouse and traffic police headquarters. Several thousand chanting marchers then proceeded toward the city's occupation military base.

Journalists at the scene said Salvadoran troops manning the post first fired noise charges to disperse the crowd, then followed with live fire. A senior U.S. officer in Baghdad denied that occupation forces fired first.

The militiamen fired small arms, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars. At one point, several dozen swarmed toward a military vehicle caught outside the base, capturing and killing the Salvadoran soldier after warning bystanders to stand aside. Two other badly beaten Spanish-speaking soldiers were seen being taken into Sadr's headquarters at the Kufa mosque, and though the military adjusted its initial report of fatalities from four to two in the hours after the conflict, Sadr officials denied holding any prisoners.

Military officials announced Sunday that two U.S. Marines were killed in Anbar province west of Baghdad in separate violence, the Associated Press reported. The day's deaths brought to 611 the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq in hostile and non-hostile situations.