The beheading of an American hostage in supposed reprisal for abuses by US soldiers has injected new venom into Washington's project in Iraq just as threats of widespread insurrection appeared to be fading.
Nick Berg, a 26-year-old civilian, may have been killed by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, according to a Web site video purportedly showing Berg's last moments. It increased fears for other hostages, including a US soldier.
Meanwhile, the young Iraqi cleric leading a month-old Shiite uprising against US occupation said yesterday that he was prepared to disband his militia army.
PHOTO: AP
But, with a now familiar ambivalence, Moqtada al-Sadr also told a rare news conference at Islam's holiest Shiite shrine he would still oppose a US-led occupation he likened to the tyrannical rule of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.
Under mounting pressure from rivals in the Shiite establishment and from US forces on the ground, his aides on Tuesday had already pencilled in their agreement to a deal that could end the insurgency.
Fresh fighting with Sadr's Mehdi Army militia in the holy city of Kerbala yesterday left at least 20 guerrillas dead, the US military said. After a night and morning of fighting, young men loyal to Sadr were holed up in a mosque and surrounded by US tanks. There were also scattered skirmishes elsewhere.
But Sadr's chief lieutenant in Najaf reached an deal in principle with the main Shiite parties late on Tuesday that could see his fighters absorbed into a broader Iraqi force to take over security while US troops pulled out of cities.
In other developments, coalition spokesman Dan Senor said yesterday that Berg was never under US custody despite claims from his family.
Senor told reporters that Berg was detained by Iraqi police in Mosul. The Iraqis informed the Americans and the FBI met with Berg three times to determine what he was doing in Iraq.
Asked for details about Berg's last weeks in Iraq, Senor replied: "We are obviously trying to piece all this together, and there's a thorough investigation."
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