Clashes broke out in the Iraqi Shiite city of Kufa yesterday despite a truce called 24 hours earlier between militia of Moqtada al-Sadr and US forces, a witness said.
"Militiamen opened fire with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades when three US tanks advanced toward the center of Kufa," said Sabah al-Tamimi, an Iraqi journalist.
He said the tanks returned fire and stopped some 500m from the Kufa Grand mosque where Sadr regularly gives a sermon at Friday prayers, he said.
The clashes came after a ceasefire started at 2:00am local time Thursday between the two sides to try to end one of the most intractable problems facing Iraq in the run-up to the planned handover of sovereignty.
Sadr has offered to withdraw his fighters from Najaf and neighboring Kufa as long as US forces also pull back as part of an agreement to end nearly two months of fighting that has left hundreds of militiamen dead.
The details of the deal are to be thrashed out in continued talks between Sadr and senior Shiite politicians, Iraqi officials said.
The deal does not provide for the disarmament of the militia and makes no mention of other cities where the Mehdi Army is present.
Neither was it clear if or when Sadr would go before a court to face charges relating to the alleged murder of a rival cleric last year.
Coalition spokesman Dan Senor said Thursday that the coalition was "cautiously optimistic" about the chances of peace, but insisted the truce was only a first step toward a lasting agreement.
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