Rival Shi'a Groups Clash In Iraqi Holy City

11 June 2004 -- Supporters of radical Shi'a cleric Muqtada al-Sadr today threw stones and shoes at members of a rival Shi'a group, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, in the Iraqi holy city of Al-Najaf.

The clash forced members of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq to cancel their weekly prayers at an Al-Najaf mosque. Clerics of that group have repeatedly called on al-Sadr's militiamen to leave the city.

In Baghdad today, three U.S. soldiers were wounded in a car-bomb explosion near their military vehicle.

And a military spokesman said militiamen in Baghdad's Shi'a neighborhood of Al-Sadr City targeted U.S. troops with rocket-propelled grenades overnight. Two children were reported killed and 23 people injured in the clashes.

(AFP)