Two other American soldiers died over the weekend in separate attacks, the US military said.

Ambulances rushed to the scene of the blast in Baghdad's Harithiyah district, about half a mile from where the head of the Governing Council, Izzadine Saleem, was assassinated in a car bombing May 17. It was not clear whether yester day's bombing was caused by a suicide attacker.

The blast showered the area with debris and bits of human flesh. At least one body lay on the street, covered with plastic sheets. US troops fired into the air to disperse the crowds.

"It felt like our house was lifted into the air and came down with a bang," said resident Faleh Hassan.

Hours later, US troops blocked a major road that leads to the Green Zone, a security area around US headquarters in central Baghdad, to defuse a second car bomb.

Shia leaders, meanwhile, called on US forces to halt "aggressive patrolling" around Kufa and Najaf to shore up a peace accord that is rapidly unraveling there, 100 miles south of Baghdad.

The fighting in Kufa broke out Sunday night and lasted until early yesterday. Shia attackers loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ambushed a patrol with small arms fire, killing one US soldier, and fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a tank, killing another American, according to the US military.

At least one Iraqi was killed and eight injured, hospital officials said. Al-Sadr's militia often avoids taking its casualties to government hospitals for fear of arrest.

Shia militiamen accused US troops of firing near the city's main mosque, damaging its outer marble wall. The bodies of two slain militiamen lay on the mosque's blood-soaked floor, covered with blankets.

"They have no respect for holy sites or for human rights," said one fighter, who gave only his first name, Abu Sayf. "This is a violation of the truce."