BAGHDAD - Tensions between Shiite and Sunni Muslims dominated sermons in Iraqi mosques on Friday, with Sunni leaders saying they would close the places of worship for three days in an unprecedent protest at anti-Sunni assassinations.
And in an outward show of the escalating sectarian tension, shooting erupted between rival Shiite and Sunni neighbourhoods in Baghdad after a car bomb killed two Iraqi soldiers in the Shiite distrct of Kadhimiya.
The US military also vowed to investigate how pictures of Saddam Hussein, dressed only in his underpants -- the first prison shots of the deposed dictator -- were obtained by the British tabloid newspaper, The Sun.
Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari, in Turkey for a two-day visit, said he would soon hold talks with Syria to discuss measures against insurgents infiltrating Iraq from Syrian territory.
After the car bomb in Kadhimiya, US forces moved into the area backed by gunships that fired several rockets on the Adhamiya Sunni neighbourhood, which lies across the Tigris.
Iraqi forces came under mortar round fire in the area of the car bomb and AFP correspondents witnessed exchanges of gunfire across the river.
Announcing the mosque closures and plans to hold a meeting of at least 1,000 Sunni leaders on Saturday, Sheikh Ahmed Abdul Ghafur al-Samarrai said in his sermon: "It is a peaceful protest against heinous crimes and it will be repeated if these attacks happen again."
He added: "We must unite to create a leadership for the community."
At the same time, leading Shiite cleric Abdel Aziz al-Hakim called for Iraqi leaders to unite against the violence.
"We must preserve unity and fight against any attempts at discord that aim to divide Iraqis," said Hakim, head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, one of two dominant political parties in the United Iraqi Alliance that controls the new government.
"I call on all Iraqis not to give in to this. I call on all religious Sunni and Shiite clerics to stand against violence aimed at them."
Sunnis have accused the Badr Organisation of Hakim's party of being the militia responsible for the recent killing of several Sunnis, including three imams.
The influential cleric met Iraq's newly appointed Sunni defence minister Saadun al-Dulaimi on Friday.
Shiite worshippers attending Friday prayers across Iraq wiped their feet on US and Israeli flags painted on the ground at the entrance of several mosques. The images were painted in response to a call by radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr protesting against an alleged desecration of the Koran at the US detention camp in Guantanamo.
The flags appeared outside mosques in Baghdad, in the holy city of Najaf and in the southern city of Basra, AFP correspondents said.
And some 2,000 people, carrying copies of the Koran, marched in protest at the Guantanamo report on Friday in Nasiriyah, 375 kilometres (220 miles) south of Baghdad.
"Eight wounded people, four civilians and four police and soldiers, have been admitted to hospital," a doctor in Nasiriyah said, after clashes erupted, with demonstrators and security forces each blaming the other side.
In an effort to defuse tension, Dulaimi earlier this week ordered Iraqi troops to keep out of mosques, saying such raids had "terrorised" the faithful.
Violence between the majority Shiites and the Sunni Arab minority who for years held power under Saddam Hussein dominated the sermons in Shiites mosques.
"We call on all sides to resort to wisdom ... Exchanging accusations is not correct as it can result in a sectarian strife," said Sheikh Sadreddin al-Kubbanji in the holy city of Najaf.
Meanwhile, the US military said it would investigate how the British newspaper The Sun had obtained pictures of a half-naked Saddam.
"These photos were taken in clear violation of Department of Defence directives and possibly Geneva Convention guidelines for the humane treatment of detained individuals," a statement said.
Under the headline "Tyrant's in his pants," the newspaper photograph showed a bare-chested Saddam in white underwear as he appeared to be getting dressed.
In the accompanying article and other intimate photos of him in custody, the newspaper quotes US military sources as saying they handed over the photos in the hope of undermining insurgents in Iraq.
"Saddam is not superman or God, he is now just an ageing and humble old man. It's important that the people of Iraq see him like that to destroy the myth," the anonymous source was quoted as saying.
Medical and security sources said that in Saddam's hometown of Tikrit the bodies of five Iraqis had been found -- adding to the scores recently found dumped in Baghdad streets.
In a rocket attack on Friday on the infamous Abu Ghraib prison in west Baghdad, five Iraqi detainees were wounded, the US military said.
There were no casualties among US troops at the prison, where US military guards were photographed abusing and sexually humilitating naked Iraqi prisoners.

05/20/2005 14:03 GMT