U.S. troops battled Iraqi guerrillas Tuesday on the
edges of Fallujah, which hundreds of Marines and Iraqi troops have
surrounded in a major operation to pacify one of Iraq's most violent
cities. The four Marines were killed by hostile fire Monday, bringing
to five the number of Marines killed that day. The military did not
give details on the deaths, saying only that they took place in Anbar
province, where Fallujah is located. In northern Baghdad's Khazimiya
district, three U.S. soldiers were killed, all members of the 1st
Armored Division. One was killed Monday when his convoy was attacked
with small-arms and rocket-propelled grenade fire. A second soldier
died later the same day when his vehicle was struck by a
rocket-propelled grenade. The third died after his Bradley vehicle was
hit by a grenade Tuesday. Their names were not released. The deaths
brought the U.S. death toll in Iraq to at least 614. In other
developments:

• Fifteen Iraqis were killed and 12 Italian soldiers hurt in clashes in Nasiriyah, the Italian news agency Ansa reported.

• When Shiite gunmen attacked a police post in Najaf during Sunday's riots, it was a group of private commandos � not U.S. troops � who beat back the attack, the Washington Post reports.

• A Spanish newspaper says Spain's future defense minister, Jose
  Bono, met secretly with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to discuss
  plans to pull Spanish troops out of Iraq.
• The U.S. Army is conducting medical tests on a handful of
  soldiers who complained of illnesses after reported exposure to
  depleted uranium � a material used for tank armor and armor-piercing
  weapons.

The offensive against Fallujah, 30 miles west of
Baghdad, comes as the United States is taking a tougher approach
against al-Sadr, who has long spoken out against the U.S. occupation
and has built up his own militia, the Al-Mahdi Army � though he has
not called for anti-U.S. violence in the past. Al-Sadr launched a wave
of protests over the arrest of a top aide last week, sparking
gunbattles Sunday between his militiamen and coalition troops in
Baghdad and near Najaf that killed at least 52 Iraqis and nine
coalition troops, including eight Americans. An arrest warrant against
al-Sadr is on charges of involvement in the April 2003 murder of
al-Khoei, who was stabbed to death by a mob in a Shiite shrine in Najaf
soon after Saddam's fall, said coalition spokesman Dan Senor. The
showdown with al-Sadr threatens to heighten tensions between the U.S.
occupation and Iraq's Shiite majority, who have largely avoided
anti-U.S. violence � though al-Sadr's popularity among Shiites is
limited. U.S. officials appear to be counting on Shiites to shun
al-Sadr, seen by many in his community as too young and fiery to lead.
Al-Sadr's main support is among young seminary students and
impoverished Shiites, devoted to him because of his anti-U.S. stance
and the memory of his father, a religious leader gunned down by
suspected agents of Saddam Hussein in 1999.

Supporters of maverick Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr
controlled government, religious and security buildings in the holy
city of Najaf early Tuesday evening, according to a coalition source in
southern Iraq.
The source said al-Sadr's followers controlled the governor's office,
police stations and the Imam Ali mosque, one of Shia Muslim's holiest
shrines.
Iraqi police were negotiating to regain their stations, the source said.