US soldiers in battle with militia near mosque

American soldiers were engaged in heavy fighting with supporters of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr near a mosque in the holy city of Kerbala early today.

The clashes came hours after Iraqi leaders agreed on a proposal to end al-Sadr's violent stand-off with the US-led coalition.

American soldiers and al-Sadr's followers also fought overnight on the outskirts of two other southern cities, Najaf and Kufa. Residents heard large explosions. One Iraqi was killed and nine others, most of them civilians, were injured, said an official at al-Furat hospital in Najaf.

Much of the fighting in Kerbala took place near the Mukhaiyam mosque, which has served as a base for al-Sadr's Al-Mahdi militia and is less than a mile from one of the holiest Shi'ite sites in the world, the Imam Hussein shrine.

Witnesses said US soldiers first tried to enter the mosque but then engaged in fierce shootouts with al-Sadr followers who had taken up positions in the buildings around it. Fighting lasted for several hours in the Iskan and Jamiya areas of the city.