- BAGHDAD -- The Imam Ali shrine,
the most sacred site in the Shia religion, was damaged yesterday after
a day of vicious fighting between US forces and fighters loyal to the radical
Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in the holy city of Najaf.
-
- In a move that has dismayed Iraq's Shias, American tanks
moved into the centre of the city after coming under fire from Mr Sadr's
supporters in an amusement park.
-
- The fighting rapidly spilled over into Najaf's vast cemetery,
a maze of footpaths and tombs known as the Valley of Peace, less than a
mile from the holy shrine.
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- US tanks rumbled into the cemetery and attacked Mr Sadr's
fighters, who had opened fire with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades
from among the graves.
-
- Explosions and heavy machine gun fire rocked Najaf for
hours. Smoke billowed from blasted buildings. Civilians scurried for cover,
leaving most streets deserted as the call for Friday prayers rose from
mosques.
-
- The fighting later spread to the headquarters of the
US-led coalition in Nassiriya, after it was attacked with rocket-propelled
grenades. At least 10 international staffers were trapped inside, including
Americans, Britons and Italians.
-
- In the neighbouring holy city of Kerbala, fighters attacked
an ancient mosque complex occupied by US troops.
-
- The latest fighting marks a dramatic escalation in the
US military's confrontation with Mr Sadr, who has been holed up in Najaf
since launching an uprising last month against the US occupation.
-
- Sadr aides yesterday showed journalists three small black
holes in the gilded dome of the Imam Ali mosque, Najaf's most sacred place.
They blamed American shellfire.
-
- In Baghdad, however, Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt,
the US military spokesman, said the mosque had probably been damaged by
Mr Sadr's supporters. "Go ask Moqtada," he said, when questioned
about the holes.
-
- Either way, the damage to the shrine and the US military's
decision to penetrate to the heart of Najaf for the first time is likely
to appal moderate Shia opinion.
-
- Shia leaders have been trying for days to broker a peaceful
solution to the crisis, with signs that most in Najaf are fed up with Mr
Sadr and his Jaish-al-Mehdi militia.
-
- An anti-Sadr demonstration yesterday by supporters of
the moderate cleric Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani, the most influential figure
in Shia religion, was cancelled because of the fighting.
-
- Mr Sistani's aides said they were deeply unhappy about
the damage to the shrine. They called on both US forces and Mr Sadr's fighters
to leave Najaf immediately.
-
- One of Mr Sistani's aides, Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer al-Mohri,
told Reuters that things had got so bad he feared for the safety of the
cleric, who lives just next door to the shrine.
-
- Although US military officials called yesterday's engagement
"small", there is little doubt that the offensive will increase
opposition to occupation in the crucial weeks before the US hands over
limited powers to an Iraqi caretaker government on June 30. Advertiser
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- Nearly 300 fighters from Mr Sadr's militia gathered outside
his office after fighting ebbed in the late afternoon, chanting slogans
in support of their leader.
-
- The hands of many were blackened, apparently a sign that
they had taken part in the fighting. Some celebrated from the back of pickup
trucks, and carried what they said were parts of US military hardware,
including what resembled the door of a Humvee and empty ammunition belts.
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- "Our morale is sky-high and we are not scared of
anyone," said a militiaman who only gave his first name, Mahdi. "We
will die for Moqtada," he said.
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- With US helicopters and a jet fighter circling the city,
and all of the roads in and out sealed, doctors said that many of the wounded
were unable to get to hospital. Dr Jubayr Awdah Faysal told Al-Jazeera
television that the injured had been lying in the streets.
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- Four dead and 26 wounded, mostly civilians caught in
the crossfire, were taken to Najaf's hospital, officials there said. Many
more people were believed to have been killed in the cemetery, but their
bodies had yet to be collected, they added.
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- Despite the US incursion, Mr Sadr delivered his regular
sermon yesterday in the neighbouring mosque of Kufa, where he denounced
George Bush and Tony Blair as "the heads of tyranny".
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- He said the two leaders had fabricated the beheading
of the US contractor Nick Berg and had ignored the suffering of Iraqis
in coalition prisons.
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- He also called on his followers in Sadr City, Baghdad's
poor and radical Shia slum, to travel to Najaf and join in the fighting.
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- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2004 http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1217375,00.html
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