A day after the cease fire offered by the rebel Shi?ite leader Moqtada al-Sadr, American troops have clashed with the latter?s militia. Two Japanese journalists, returning from a visit to Japanese troops stationed at Samawa, were killed in an attack on their car south of Bagdad.

US troops clashed with Iraqi fighters from Moqtada al-Sadr?s Mehdi Army militia on yesterday near the holy city Najaf, a day after the radical Shi?ite cleric offered a truce that US forces agreed to respect.

Two Japanese journalists were killed in an attack on their car in a well-known danger spot for banditry south of Baghdad, said hospital staff displaying two incinerated bodies.

Sporadic gunfire crackled around Sadr?s home mosque at Kufa, just outside Najaf, and US tanks cordoned off the area. Witnesses heard explosions earlier. Sadr normally preaches the Friday noon (0800 GMT) sermon at the Kufa mosque.

A Reuters correspondent saw about 20 men wearing the black clothes of the Mehdi Army and armed with grenade launchers and rifles taking cover in buildings and behind palm trees close to the mosque. Scores of worshippers were walking on back streets towards the building having skirted the US security cordon.

Several mortar rounds also landed in the main US base on the edge of Najaf, a CNN correspondent inside the base said.

Najaf itself had spent its quietest night in weeks and it was not clear whether the fighters on the outskirts were still under orders from Sadr, who seemed to have yielded to pressure from Shi?ite Muslim elders dismayed at weeks of bloodshed.

US officials, who took no part in negotiating with Sadr, said they would suspend offensive operations in response to his pulling fighters off the streets. But they had warned him that they would return fire if they came under attack.

<B>JAPANESE JOURNALISTS KILLED</B>

The Japanese freelance journalists? Iraqi driver, who was wounded, told doctors in Mahmudiya that their car went up in flames when it was hit, apparently by a rocket-propelled grenade near the town, 30 km south of the capital.

Japan?s foreign ministry confirmed the attack, which took place on Thursday, but said the fates of Shinsuke Hashida, 61, and his 33-year-old nephew Kotaro Ogawa were unclear.

A Reuters correspondent saw two bodies, charred beyond recognition, at the hospital and the burned out wreck of a four-wheel-drive vehicle along the road.

<B>NAJAF CALM</B>

The two journalists had been returning to Baghdad from a visit to Japanese troops stationed at Samawa in southern Iraq.

Other foreigners have been killed on the same stretch, including a Pole and an Algerian three weeks ago.

Also on Thursday, a member of Iraq?s US-appointed Governing Council survived an attack on her convoy south of Baghdad but three bodyguards were wounded and her son was killed when his car ploughed into a river, Iraqi officials said.

In Najaf, the holy city bustled with pilgrims and street vendors early on the Muslim day of prayer and crowds began gathering at the Imam Ali mosque, one of Shi?ite Islam?s holiest shrines, whose doors and dome were damaged in recent fighting.

Sadr waged a nearly two-month uprising against American forces across southern Iraq before backing down.

Around 100-150 followers, many wielding Mehdi Army banners, demonstrated outside Sadr?s Najaf offices, lauding their leader.

US officials welcomed the truce move brokered by Shi?ite elders as a first step to ending an uprising that has cost hundreds of lives over the past two months.

But they rejected Sadr?s demands to be let off a murder charge and insisted he fully disband the Mehdi Army.

A deal with Sadr could staunch a major source of trouble for US troops in Iraq as Washington prepares to hand over to an Iraqi interim government on June 30.

But it remains to be seen if the truce marks the end of Sadr?s ambitions or rather a bid to survive and keep his forces intact to influence the new Iraqi politics after the occupation.

The Polish army denied US media reports that its troops had abused Iraqi detainees sent to Baghdad?s Abu Ghraib prison, which is at the centre of a scandal over maltreatment by US soldiers which has undermined Washington?s authority in Iraq.

«I categorically deny this,» Colonel Zdzislaw Gnatowski, spokesman for Poland?s general staff, told Reuters.

«A few weeks ago the chief military prosecutor carried out an inspection of our detention centre and confirmed that all procedures were being followed.»

US authorities are trying to slash prisoner numbers in Abu Ghraib and released several hundred more detainees.

<B>Suleiman AL-KHALIDI</B>

<B>Rebel cleric Sadr fails to preach at Friday prayers</B>

Rebel Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr did not turn up to preach at prayers in the town of Kufa, near Najaf, yesterday and an aide, confirming he would not attend, said he did not know where the cleric was. Sadr, who on Thursday offered a truce to US forces after a nearly two-month uprising, usually preaches at Kufa's main mosque every Friday at 1 p.m.

This week he was replaced by Sheikh Jader al-Khafaji, an ardent Sadr deputy. Sadr normally makes rousing anti-American sermons in Kufa. Several thousand worshippers had packed the mosque and grounds outside it to show support for the cleric a day after he offered to withdraw his Mehdi Army militia fighters from Najaf and Kufa if US troops would also withdraw.

US officials welcomed the truce move brokered by Shi'ite elders as a first step to ending an uprising that has cost hundreds of lives over the past two months. But they rejected Sadr's demands to be let off a murder charge and insisted he fully disband the Mehdi Army.

There was no immediate word from US authorities in Iraq on whether they had moved to seize Sadr, as they have previously pledged. US forces had set up road blocks on the main road from Najaf to Kufa, forcing worshippers to take back streets to Kufa.