Sadr City truce pummeled with roadside bombs

BAGHDAD - A column of Iraqi armor on Sunday set out to test a new truce in the Sadr City area of Baghdad between the militias and the Iraqi government by venturing north on a major thoroughfare that borders the Shiite enclave.

But the Iraqi forces had barely started to move before they were struck by three roadside bombs.

As Sadr City and Iraqi government negotiators struggled to complete the cease-fire agreement, it was a vivid demonstration that a durable cease-fire in the densely populated neighborhood, where intense fighting has been going on for more than a month, has yet to be achieved.

"They promised that there would not be any explosions, that people would show us where the IEDs are," said a combat engineer with the 9th Iraqi Army Division who identified himself as Alaa. "In 10 meters three IEDs exploded on us."

Three Iraqi soldiers were wounded by the blasts, including the Iraqi colonel, who strode through a rubble-strewn street with a bandage on his left leg.

Elsewhere, a U.S. soldier was killed Saturday in a vehicle rollover near Al-Asad, Iraq.

Hopes for a peaceful end to the bitter fighting in Sadr City were raised Saturday when government officials and followers of Muqtada al-Sadr, the anti-American Shiite cleric who controls the militias, said a truce had been brokered.

Under the terms of the agreement, Iraqi forces would have free access to Sadr City and militia members would not be allowed to have weapons such as machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades or mortars. In return, militia members who refrained from fighting Iraqi and U.S. forces would not be arrested.

Iraqi and U.S. forces have already moved into the southern quadrant of Sadr City and U.S. troops have been working to complete a wall along Al Quds Street, which marks the northern edge of the sector, to try to turn that region into a safe zone. But the agreement was seen as way for the Iraqi government to assert control over the Sadr City areas north of the wall without ordering Iraqi troops to fight their way in.

Putting the accord to the test, at least at this early stage, was another matter. Haji Abu Muhammad, a Mahdi Army commander in Sadr City, said Sunday that his men would not stop fighting until ordered to do so by the cleric personally.

Some residents wondered how long the government would wait if a durable truce could not be achieved before sending troops north of Al Quds street. And some were not waiting for an answer. On Sunday morning, streams of cars could be seen leaving Sadr City.