Marine Lieutenant-Colonel Brennan Byrne said the foot patrols would be backed by armor and air support. He said patrols coming under fire wouldn't necessarily spark a renewal of a general Marine offensive.
"We're perfectly happy to move down the street, destroy a bad guy over here and just continue on with the patrol," he said.
In the south, about 200 troops and Military Police rolled into the Spanish base in Najaf yesterday morning. The move deploys US troops within the Najaf urban area for the first time since a large force massed outside the city earlier this month to put down the al-Mahdi Army militia of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
The base compound was pockmarked with shells and shrapnel from earlier attacks. The golden domes of the Shiite shrines at Najaf's center -- a no-go zone for the Americans -- were visible from inside the compound.
Overnight, al-Sadr's forces shelled the base with 21 mortars, and one Salvadoran soldier was wounded, said Colonel Pat White, commander of the US 2nd Battalion, 37th Armored Regiment, which moved into the base.
Spanish troops at the base are due to leave within days, and the Americans moved in to ensure al-Sadr militiamen did not overrun the site.
"We are going in to allow the Spanish troops to leave safely and so that the compound is not left empty," said White, commander of the 2nd Battalion, 37th Armored Regiment. "We don't want al-Sadr's militia to take it over. It is not an offensive operation."
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