Violence Erupts in Eastern Baghdad

Sadr Calls off Massive Rally

BAGHDAD, April 8-- Fighting between Shiite militants and U.S.-backed Iraqi troops raged Tuesday in eastern Baghdad as anti-U.S. cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called off a massive rally scheduled for Wednesday to denounce the presence of U.S. forces in Iraq.

The clashes, mostly in Sadr City, a vast Shiite slum, left 13 suspected militants killed and scores injured, according to Col. Sadoon Kareem, a spokesman for the Iraqi Interior Ministry.

Violence has erupted in Sadr City and other neighborhoods in eastern Baghdad this week as U.S. and Iraqi forces have cracked down on suspected teams of militants responsible for rocket and mortar attacks. The attacks have targeted the Green Zone and military facilities, and come as top U.S. officials are scheduled to testify in Congress Tuesday and Wednesday and offer a progress report about Iraq.

Sadr's announcement about the rally, which supporters had called a "million man" march, came after Iraqi government officials hinted that they might order a curfew in the capital out of concern that the rally could turn violent.

The cleric also said Tuesday that he may lift a cease-fire that has been hailed as one of the main reasons security has improved in Iraq over the past year, Reuters reported. "If it is required to lift the freeze [ceasefire] in order to carry out our goals, objectives, doctrines and religious principles and patriotism, we will do that later and in a separate statement," Sadr said in a statement on his Web site.

Despite the ceasefire which Sadr called last August, his followers have clashed with Iraqi government troops and U.S. forces in the south of the country and Baghdad in recent weeks, leading to Iraq's worst violence since the first half of 2007.

The U.S. military said Tuesday that attacks on U.S. and Iraqi forces in Baghdad increased sharply in March, Reuters reported, and the U.S. ambassador to Iraq warned violence would spiral further if U.S. troops were withdrawn too soon.

U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Steven Stover told Reuters that overall attacks in the Iraqi capital had averaged 23 per day last month, up sharply from an average of nine a day between November and February. Attacks on civilians declined steadily through March, however, meaning virtually the entire increase was attributable to attacks on U.S. and Iraqi troops, the wire service said.

Deaths of U.S. soldiers averaged a little more than one per day over the past four months, Reuters reported, but eleven have been killed over the past two days.

At least three U.S. soldiers were killed in the capital Monday in two attacks, the military said. Two were killed by rocket-propelled grenades, and one was fatally shot after a roadside bomb struck the convoy in which he was traveling, the military said. News of their deaths came a day after four U.S. soldiers died in other attacks in the country.

On Monday, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki threatened to block Sadr's political party from upcoming provincial elections.

The prime minister said in an interview with CNN that Sadr must disband the Mahdi Army, his powerful militia, in order to participate in elections scheduled for October.

Hassan al-Zargani, a top aide to Sadr, said the cleric is willing to disband the militia if his religious leaders sign off on the move, and if the Iraqi government meets certain unspecified conditions. "The government should give a number of guarantees," Zargani said, "because dissolving the army is not an easy thing to do."

Maliki described a bloody offensive targeting Shiite militias in Basra late last month as successful and said the operation had empowered the government to pursue militias elsewhere in the country.

"The state came out with the maximum power, nationalism, popular and national support that expressed itself, and for the first time, the one who is cornered and defeated is this gang," Maliki said, according to a transcript of the interview posted on CNN's Web site.

The Mahdi Army had maintained a low profile in recent months following a cease-fire Sadr declared last August. The cease-fire was broken after the Basra offensive, and the militia has since clashed repeatedly with U.S.-backed Iraqi forces.

Jason Gluck, an Iraq expert at the U.S. Peace Institute who worked in Iraq last year advising the parliament on rule of law and constitutional issues, said disbanding the militia would be a gamble for Sadr. The move could broaden his standing as a national leader and make him an attractive ally for Sunni groups eager to create an opposition bloc. But it could also weaken him.

"Until now, Sadr has enjoyed influence in Iraq that was disproportionate to his popular support because of his militia," Gluck said. "He was able to exist both within and outside the political arena because Maliki permitted him to do so. He cannot, however, survive for long with both Maliki and the Americans going full tilt against him."

Sadr's political base has been at loggerheads with Maliki's Dawa party and its largest ally, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, over the U.S. role in the country and the level of autonomy to be accorded the predominantly Shiite southern region.

The security situation in Baghdad remained unsteady Monday. U.S. forces launched at least three airstrikes against suspected teams of rocket and mortar launchers targeting American areas, the U.S. military said.

Americans in Iraq have been on high alert since the Basra offensive triggered a round of rocket attacks on the Green Zone and U.S. military bases in the capital.

Special correspondents Saad Sarhan in Najaf and Naseer Nouri in Baghdad contributed to this report.