- NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - Fighters
loyal to Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr clashed with U.S. troops in Najaf
on Saturday after talks with religious authorities to end a siege at the
city's holiest shrine ran into difficulties.
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- Explosions from mortar bombs and rocket propelled-grenades
echoed through the alleyways of the old city in Najaf, wrecking a day of
relative calm in a two-week Shi'ite Muslim uprising that has helped drive
world oil prices to record highs.
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- Militiamen had earlier brandished weapons around
the Imam Ali mosque, dampening hopes that an offer by Sadr to hand the
shrine over to the clerical establishment would end the siege, the biggest
challenge yet faced by Iraq's interim government.
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- "Bring those Americans here to fight hand to
hand," one of Sadr's followers said before the latest outbreak of
fighting.
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- "They are cowards. They stay thousands of feet
away in their airplanes. They are scared, they know we will slaughter them,"
he said, biting his finger for emphasis.
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- In nearby Kufa, where Sadr has in the past led prayers
at the mosque, witnesses said U.S. forces had also clashed with militiamen
on Saturday.
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- A top Sadr aide said talks between the firebrand
cleric's representatives and Iraq's top Shi'ite religious authorities were
continuing with a view to handing the shrine over to the control of Ayatollah
Ali al-Sistani.
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- Sistani, the most influential cleric in the majority
Shi'ite country, is in London recovering from surgery.
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- But the aide, Ali Smeisim, said the talks had hit
a snag over a request by Sadr's side that Sistani send a delegation to
perform an inventory of precious items in the mosque -- thought to include
jewelry, relics and carpets -- to head off any claim that Sadr's men had
stolen anything from the shrine.
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- The Imam Ali Mosque is the holiest Shi'ite shrine
in Iraq.
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- "We were told by people in Sayyed Sistani's
office that they cannot form the committee in the current circumstances.
We told them that Sayyed Sistani has representatives in Najaf ... and we
believe a committee can be formed," Smeisim told reporters.
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- Sadr's aides had earlier said that his militia would
continue to guard the mosque after any handover, precisely the outcome
that the two-month-old government wants to prevent.
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- "TRAITORS"
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- In the shrine, a teenager hacked with a pick at a
block of ice to help cool Sadr's fighters, who yelled slogans vilifying
Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, who has called on them to lay down their weapons
and leave.
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- "We are winning, we will win over Iyad Allawi
and the traitors collaborating with the Americans," they chanted.
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- Some held banners that said: "Where is the bullet
that will grant me martyrdom?"
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- Sadr's uprising has fueled fears of disruption to
Iraqi oil production and has helped push crude prices to new highs.
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- Saboteurs detonated an explosive near an oil pumping
station in southern Iraq on Saturday but caused only minor damage, witnesses
said.
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- Confusion over control of the mosque swirled on Friday
as the revolt, in which hundreds have died, entered its third week. The
Interior Ministry said police had entered the shrine without firing a shot,
a claim quickly denied by Sadr's aides.
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- A bloodless seizure of the mosque would have been
a big political victory for Allawi. Since taking over from U.S. occupiers
on June 28 he has struggled to end an insurgency and the Sadr-inspired
Shi'ite rebellion in eight cities.
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- Iraq's Health Ministry said on Saturday morning that
at least 21 Iraqis had been killed and five wounded in Najaf over the past
24 hours. Three people were killed in Baghdad, where U.S. troops have fought
Shi'ite gunmen in the Sadr City slum.
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- The U.S. military said insurgents fired a rocket-propelled
grenade at a U.S. military vehicle in southern Baghdad on Saturday, killing
one soldier and wounding two others.
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- In a separate attack, two U.S. soldiers were killed
and three wounded on Friday by a roadside bomb near Samarra.
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- The attacks brought to 711 the number of U.S. troops
killed in action in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion last year. One Polish
soldier was killed and six wounded on Saturday when a car bomb exploded
next to their convoy near the town of Hilla, an army spokesman said.
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- The soldier's death brings the number of Polish fatalities
in Iraq to 14 since Poland took charge of the 8,000-strong multinational
force in south-central Iraq last September.
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- In the western town of Ramadi, police said the head
of the criminal investigation unit, Saad Samir, was shot dead on Saturday,
although the reason for the attack was not immediately clear. Insurgents
have often targeted Iraqi security forces.
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