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Al-Sadr rebuffs Iraqi truce delegates

Mortar attack kills seven in central Baghdad


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Muqtada al-Sadr refuses to meet with a peace delegation in Najaf.

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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr refused to meet Tuesday with Iraqi leaders sent to Najaf in hopes of ending nearly two weeks of fighting between al-Sadr's militia fighters and a U.S.-Iraqi force, the city's governor said.

The eight delegates from the Iraqi National Conference arrived from Baghdad earlier in the day. They had not decided whether to remain in Najaf after the rebuff, Gov. Adnan al-Zurfi said.

Al-Sadr spokesman Ahmed al-Shibani told the Arabic-language television network Al-Jazeera that fighting prevented the meeting and that al-Sadr was still willing to meet with the delegation.

But al-Zurfi told the network that there were "no security reasons" that would have prevented a meeting.

Al-Sadr and his troops are holed up in the Imam Ali Mosque, one of Shiite Islam's holiest shrines.

American warplanes bombarded an area Tuesday around Najaf's vast cemetery, and heavy clashes were reported.

Attack in Baghdad

In Baghdad, meanwhile, a mortar round exploded in a busy central neighborhood, killing seven people and wounding 47 others, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said.

The round went off in the Rasheed Street area, said Col. Adnan Abdul Rahman. The area is usually crowded at midday because of its proximity to a large market. A residential building was damaged and seven cars destroyed.

Rahman said he believes the mortar round was intended for a nearby police station but missed its mark.

The effort to broker a cease-fire in the Najaf fighting has taken center stage at the Iraqi National Conference -- a meeting of 1,500 Iraqi leaders who will choose a 100-person body to advise and oversee the interim government.

Al-Sadr had said he would welcome the delegation, but at the same time stressed that he and his forces remain prepared to defend themselves.

The delegation was originally supposed to have left Baghdad on Tuesday morning, but it was delayed because of ambush threats on the route between Najaf and the capital.

With the change to travel by U.S. helicopters, the delegation was scaled back from 72 to eight.

Safety also was an issue at the Baghdad convention center, the site of the conference, as two mortar rounds landed close to the facility before midday Tuesday. No casualties were reported.

The effort to select an advisory panel has been put on hold.

The conference decided to extend its session another day, to Wednesday, officials at the meeting said.

Cease-fire hopes

According to Rajaa Khuzaie, a member of the delegation and a former Iraqi Governing Council member, the delegation intended to ask al-Sadr and his Mehdi Army to leave the Imam Ali Mosque, lay down their weapons and become a political group instead of a militia.

Militia members have been fighting U.S. troops and Iraqi security forces for 13 days. The huge mosque compound is surrounded by Iraqi forces, but authorities have said there is no plan to storm it.

The Iraqi Interior Ministry said Sunday that 25 heavily armed foreigners were holed up inside the mosque and had rigged it with explosives, threatening to blow up the building if attacked.

After efforts to reach a truce with al-Sadr's militia failed over the weekend, Iraqi national security adviser Mouwaffaq al-Rubaie declared that military operations would resume to "return the city of Najaf to normal city functions and to establish law and order."

Before it was rebuffed, Khuzaie said the delegation had a better chance of success than others who have failed because it represents all the people of Iraq.

Other developments

  • An Air Force MQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicle crashed Tuesday north of Balad Air Base north of Baghdad, according to a multinational forces news release. The aircraft had been assigned to the 46th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron.
  • An American soldier was killed Monday when suspected insurgents attacked forces with makeshift bombs and rocket-propelled grenades in eastern Baghdad, the U.S. military said Tuesday. Several soldiers were wounded and three armored vehicles were disabled, the military said. The death brings the number of U.S. troop killed in Iraq to 944 -- 704 in hostile action.
  • The fiancee of a journalist missing in Iraq for four days urged anyone who might be holding him Monday to release him unharmed, saying he was just doing his job. The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad said it was looking into the fate of Micah Garen, a 36-year-old French journalist who also carries a U.S. passport. Al-Jazeera said Garen had been kidnapped in the southern city of Nasiriya. (Full story)
  • A radical Islamic group -- Unification and Jihad -- posted on a Web site a threat Monday against troops from El Salvador. The group has previously posted a threat against Italy, calling for that country to pull its troops out of Iraq. The threat could not be independently verified. In the posting, the group said El Salvador had 20 days to pull its troops out of Iraq or face bloodshed. El Salvador has about 350 troops in Iraq, stationed in the Kufa area.

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