7 soldiers reprimanded

BAGHDAD, Iraq — The U.S. military has reprimanded seven soldiers in the alleged abuse of inmates at Baghdad's notorious Abu Ghraib prison, the first known punishments in the case, an official said Monday. Two of the soldiers were relieved of their duties.

Another six U.S. service members — all military police — also may face criminal charges.

The official said he believed the seven officers would not face further action or court martial, but the reprimands could mean the end of their careers.

While the reprimands were taking place, U.S. forces in Najaf came under their most intense attack yet by Shiite militiamen in a clash Monday that may have killed up to 20 Iraqis. But the military still held back from going after the militia's leader, a radical cleric, to avoid angering Iraq's Shiite majority.

U.S. troops clashed for hours with Shiite militiamen who barraged the Americans' base with mortars overnight, then opened fire in the afternoon from several directions. Tank and machine-gun fire demolished a building that troops said was the source of shooting, raising a pillar of smoke. Apache attack helicopters circled but did not fire.

Before dawn Monday, militiamen shelled the troops with about 20 mortars, hitting in and around the base where U.S. troops replaced Spanish forces a week ago. There were no casualties.

The U.S. military is deployed at the base and outside Najaf to crack down on radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his militia. But the troops have held back because the military fears angering Shiite Muslims whose holiest site in Iraq — the Imam Ali Shrine — is about three miles from the U.S. base.

In other developments:

• The United States turned to a new commander for an Iraqi force taking control of Fallujah, considering Maj. Gen. Mohammed Latif, who opposed Saddam Hussein, to replace another general.

The move to have Latif lead the Fallujah Brigade came amid complaints from some Iraqis that the current commander, Maj. Gen. Jassim Mohammed Saleh, a former member of Saddam's Republican Guard, may have been involved in past repression by the ousted regime.

Hoshyar Zibari, Iraq's Kurdish foreign minister, said there were reports Saleh was involved in crushing the 1991 uprising by Kurds against Saddam's rule.

Latif does "not have such problems" and at one point was imprisoned by Saddam, Zibari said.

A senior U.S. military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Latif would likely step in as commander.