Baghdad, Iraq ? Some of Iraq’s most important Shiite Muslim leaders called Tuesday for Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his armed followers to abandon two holy cities that they are using for sanctuary to avoid a potentially devastating U.S. attack.

The plea, which included a call for U.S. troops to remain outside the cities, represents the most public attempt to date by Iraq’s mainstream Shiite leadership to resolve a five-week-old standoff between al-Sadr and occupation officials. It comes at a time when U.S. officials are counting increasingly on Iraqis to assume responsibility for the country’s security before sovereignty is handed them next month.

A 21-member committee of Shiite tribal, religious and political leaders hopes to broker a deal that would allow al-Sadr, who is wanted by U.S. authorities on murder charges, to leave the city of Najaf, where he has hunkered down for several weeks. Najaf is home to the shrine of Ali, Iraq’s holiest Shiite site, and recent fighting around the city between al-Sadr’s militia and U.S. forces has placed it in jeopardy.

An adviser to Iraq’s most powerful Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, said Sistani had not been invited to send a representative to the committee, which comprises senior officials from each of the most influential Shiite political parties and many of Iraq’s southern tribes. The widely revered Sistani and the young firebrand al-Sadr do not enjoy good relations, though both have demanded that the United States move more quickly to return sovereignty to Iraqis.

Members of the committee, whose makeup was announced Tuesday, said any arrangement would likely require U.S. officials to cancel the arrest warrant against al-Sadr and allow him to be taken into protective custody by a group of respected Shiite clerics in Najaf or to leave the country. Others suggested that al-Sadr be given a place in the interim government that assumes sovereignty on June 30.

Shelling of U.S. positions outside Najaf continued Tuesday.

Shiite militiamen fired mortars at a U.S. base in Najaf and bombarded a municipal hall in Karbala.

Sporadic overnight mortar attacks on the U.S. base in Najaf followed intense fighting Monday between American forces and militiamen loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. As many as 20 Iraqis were killed Monday. No coalition troops died.

Meanwhile, Iraqis were patrolling Fallujah, taking over for Marines pulling back from the city where U.S. forces have been battling Sunni insurgents.

Sistani.org

A senior Marine officer said the new Iraqi force, which was swiftly formed with U.S. backing and will eventually number up to 1,100 troops, is “meeting expectations” in bringing calm to the city, where a nearly monthlong siege left 10 Marines and several hundred Iraqis dead.

North of Baghdad, four U.S. soldiers from the 1st Infantry Division were killed after their Humvee overturned during a combat patrol north of Baghdad, the Army said. As of Tuesday, 756 U.S. service members have died since the beginning of military operations in Iraq last year, according to the Department of Defense. Of those, 549 died as a result of hostile action and 207 died of non-hostile causes.

Soldiers killed in Iraq identified Tuesday included Army Pvt. Jeremy L. Drexler, 23, of Topeka, Kan., killed Sunday in Baghdad when his convoy vehicle hit an explosive; and Army Capt. John E. Tipton, 32, of Fort Walton Beach, Fla., stationed at Fort Riley, Kan. who was killed Sunday in Al Anbar Province, Iraq, from an explosion during combat operations.