by Ammar Karim
BAGHDAD, Sept 7 (AFP) - Iraqi Shiite militiamen were planting bombs in the street of a Baghdad slum amid echoing machinegun fire Tuesday, as angry foot soldiers of radical cleric Moqtada Sadr cursed the Iraqi government and US "occupiers" after deadly fighting erupted overnight.
The clashes between the Mehdi Army militiamen and US forces that shattered a week-old truce were some of the bloodiest seen in the sprawling slum since Sadr`s April revolt against the US-led coalition, with the highest estimates reporting more than 40 killed.
"I`m planting a roadside bomb. Nine out of 10 traps here are fake bombs with wires to confuse the American soldiers. But this one is real and it`s big," says Hazem, 25.
"It`s very well hidden. Look here, you can`t guess there is something under the road. Hopefully, a tank will stop right on top of it and then `Boom!`, we can set if off," he says.
The nationwide ceasefire ordered by Moqtada Sadr after a weeks-long standoff between his militia and US forces in the holy city of Najaf only lasted nine days.
The Medhi Army`s guns and mortars were still hot from the fighting around Najaf`s Imam Ali shrine when the militia deployed again in their impoverished stronghold and engaged US troops.
"They started raiding houses again and arresting people. At first, we did not respond because there was a truce. Now we are rising up because there have been too many violations," says Ali-Husseini, who leads a small group of fighters on Al-Falah street where some of the worst clashes occurred overnight.
"If they want a truce, we are ready. But if they want to escalate the fight, we will respond tit for tat."
According to residents and fighters, four US tanks and eight personnel carriers thrust into Sadr City late Monday.
"They turned into Al-Falah street and we think they were heading to the Martyrs hospital to arrest some Sadr supporters. So we detonated three bombs we had planted on the street," says Said Najem, another local militia commander.
"One of the armoured vehicles was hit. It took them two hours to evacuate it and during that time there were intense clashes."
US armour was deployed in several areas of the sprawling slum`s 79 sectors Tuesday afternoon, as armed militiamen darted through the streets.
Two burnt-out cars lay alongside a gaping three-metre-wide crater caused by a US missile.
"We were lucky," says Ali Thamer Karim. "The rocket fired by the US Apache landed in the living room and nobody was sleeping there. What am I supposed to do now?"
In this Shiite bastion, everybody has someone to blame for the dire poverty and relentless violence.
Cursing the United States is a knee-jerk reaction for all residents, but many Sadr supporters have even more hatred for Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, whom they consider a US stooge, a secular Shiite betraying his country.
Hussein Mohammed, whose son was struck down in the fighting, complained bitterly: "All of these problems are because of Iyad Allawi," whom Sadr`s lieutenants accuse of trying to break the back of their popular movement.
But Thamer Karim`s neighbours, whose house was also damaged in the fighting, are supporters of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Sadr`s elder rival, and blame the young cleric for the destruction inflicted here.
On Tuesday afternoon, the command of the Mehdi Army issued a statement reiterating their commitment to a peaceful solution to the crisis, provided US troops enter Sadr City only when they are coming in to help with reconstruction projects.
But none of the fighters have turned in their weaponry and the entire area is a ticking bomb. As traffic resumed later Tuesday, thousands of cars were blissfully tripping the hundreds of detonation wires which criss-cross the streets.