U.S. troops, Sadr militia clash after Iraq truce

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/MAC822816.htm

KUFA, Iraq, May 28 (Reuters) - U.S. troops clashed with Iraqi fighters from Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia on Friday near the holy city Najaf, a day after the radical Shi'ite cleric offered a truce that U.S. forces agreed to respect.

Sadr himself failed to appear for his weekly sermon at Kufa, disappointing thousands of followers, some of them armed, who had flocked to hear him despite U.S. roadblocks. They chanted defiance of America and said U.S. troops had broken the truce.

Two Japanese journalists were killed in an attack on their car in a danger spot well-known for banditry south of Baghdad, said hospital staff displaying two incinerated bodies.

After a morning marked by sporadic gunfire and a mortar attack on a nearby U.S. base, the main mosque at Kufa just outside Najaf was packed and about 5,000 more Sadr followers crowded outside after walking around a U.S. armoured cordon.

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[saigon68]

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