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BAGHDAD - As Shia militiamen controlled parts of three southern Iraqi cities and six Americans died in fighting Thursday, insurgents resorted to a new tactic - kidnapping 13 foreign civilians.

A key Muslim leader criticized U.S. military tactics but also condemned a Shiite militia leader. His statement somewhat lessened fears of a widespread Shiite uprising.

Lt. General Ricardo Sanchez, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said coalition forces are making progress against the violence that erupted this week.

The Mahdi Army, a militia loyal to radical anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, held portions of Kut, Kufa and Najaf for a third day. Sanchez vowed to retake Kut "imminently" in a new military operation code-named Resolute Sword.

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the leading Shiite cleric in Iraq, dealt a blow to al-Sadr. Al-Sistani - who has frequently sniped at U.S. policies - broke a weeklong silence and issued a fatwa, or religious edict, criticizing U.S. military tactics. But he also condemned al-Sadr's methods and those of other armed groups as making a "bad situation worse."

Al-Sistani commands the loyalty of most Iraqi Shiites. His declaration offers hope that his followers will not join al-Sadr's uprising.

More worrisome was a flurry of kidnappings during the day. Insurgents seized three Japanese aid workers and displayed them, blindfolded, for Al Jazeera, an Arab satellite-TV station. The hostages were surrounded by masked gunmen holding swords, knives, rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons.

A group calling itself the Mujahideen Squadrons threatened to burn alive the three hostages in three days if Japanese troops do not withdraw from Iraq.

Eight Koreans and two Israeli Arabs - one of whom studied in the state of Georgia - also were kidnapped; the Koreans were released. Several foreign journalists were attacked on streets or detained for hours.

Targeting foreigners is likely to further dissuade international aid groups from helping in Iraq's reconstruction.

In Baghdad, Sanchez said attacks in the capital were "substantially reduced" as a result of intelligence-based raids. "We will continue to see this violence for some time, until Muqtada Al-Sadr turns himself in or his militia is destroyed," he said.

Sanchez said U.S. Marines made "tremendous progress" against Sunni extremists in Fallujah, 40 miles from Baghdad. He said the Marines captured foreign fighters there.

"We are totally confident that we will succeed," he declared. "The security situation will improve over the days and weeks ahead. Once the security situation in Fallujah is stabilized, the citizens ... will find no better friend than the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force."

He added: "I don't see any shadows of Vietnam in Iraq."

A rocket attack on a base of the U.S. Army's 1st Armored Division killed one soldier. Two 1st Infantry Division soldiers died in fighting in Samawa and Khan Bani Sa'ad, while another soldier died from wounds suffered in an April 4 attack in Mosul. Two Marines were killed in Anbar Province.

The week's violence has killed 40 coalition forces and more than 450 Iraqis.

In Baghdad, some Sunnis declared solidarity with al-Sadr for a second day and claimed that Fallujans support al-Sadr's militia.

"Thank god this difficult situation makes our people united," said Mohammed Yassin, 40, a salesman in a wedding-supply shop. "Sunni and Shia will stay brothers and the bonds between them will be strong. We are united in Islam."

But Sanchez said calls for unity between al-Sadr's Shiite militia and Sunni militants, who have fought the U.S.-led coalition since last April, were not "unexpected" and seen only at the "lowest levels."

He insisted the wave of violence is not "a significant challenge to our forces."

Sanchez described al-Sadr's Mahdi Army as adopting ambush-type tactics, mostly with small arms, mortars and RPGs. The most coordinated attack occurred in Najaf, where snipers lined rooftops for blocks to battle Iraqi Civil Defense and coalition troops.

The militiamen also forced an "orderly withdrawal" of Ukrainian soldiers from Kut following heavy fighting, U.S. Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt said.

Sanchez estimated the Mahdi Army's strength as 4,000 to 6,000 men. The coalition has inflicted "fairly heavy casualties on them ... they have some military experience, but in the broadest sense they are not a very well-trained fighting force."

In Baghdad, many Iraqis are visibly upset by the surge in violence. Schools were closed and parents kept their children inside.

"After removing the tyrant Saddam Hussein, we don't want him replaced with another kind of tyranny and anarchy," said Abu Haidar Hassnawi, a Shia tribal leader. "One year, and this great state can't bring security here? In spite of this, I call on Iraqis to calm down now and see what America will give us."

"I don't agree with (al-Sadr) and what he is doing now," said Zahid Taib Ali, 50, a cosmetics-store owner. "There is no cooperation between the Shia, Muqtada's followers, and the Sunni in Falluja." He said Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani "will deal with this situation with wisdom and patience."

"We want security and stability ... we don't want war," he said. "We can't control the country without the coalition forces," which he termed "liberation forces, not occupiers."

And he blamed radicals for using the country's poor and uneducated to create unrest, declaring: "Muqtada's behavior is wrong multiplied by wrong."

Nouri al-Badran, the Iraqi interior minister who controls police and security forces, resigned during the day. He said U.S. Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III, the top civilian administrator in Iraq, criticized his performance and later asked him to resign because a newly appointed defense minister is a Shiite. Badran, also a Shiite, said that would have made the leadership sectarian balance uneven.

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