Battle near Iraq shrine rages, US planes strike

1.00pm

NAJAF, IRAQ - US warplanes, artillery and marines engaged Shi'ite militiamen in a fierce battle around a shrine in the Iraqi city of Najaf on Monday in some of the heaviest fighting since the 20-day-old rebellion erupted.

US aircraft and ground artillery launched several strikes that rocked the area near the Imam Ali mosque, where Mehdi Army fighters of radical Shi'ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr have holed up in defiance of the US-backed interim government.

An AC-130 gunship, equipped with rapid-fire cannon and howitzers, circled above the southern city while artillery and armoured fighting vehicles struck on the ground.

Smoke and a fiery glow rose above Najaf's Old City within a mile of the shrine, where gunfire echoed through nearby alleys. US tanks kept up their encirclement of the city's heart.

Shrapnel fell in the courtyard of the gold-domed mosque, whose outer walls have already been slightly damaged in fighting that has killed hundreds and driven oil prices to record highs.

News that Iraq's crude exports were back to normal on Monday for the first time in two weeks helped to calm jittery oil markets. Exports had been sharply reduced by sabotage and threats from militants. Oil prices rose to nearly US$50 a barrel last week but have since eased.

Sadr's whereabouts are unknown. Police in Najaf said they had information that he had fled to Sulaimaniya, in Kurdish northern Iraq. However, Sadr's aides and local government officials in Sulaimaniya denied the report.

Overnight, a US AC-130 gunship blasted rebel positions after a weekend of fruitless talks between Sadr's aides and religious authorities on handing over the keys of the shrine to Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's most respected Shi'ite cleric.

In an apparent relaxation of Sadr's demand that the Mehdi Army guard the mosque even once it is handed over, a top Sadr aide said Shi'ite authorities would be responsible.

"The religious establishment will be in charge of security and they should have their own security force," said Sheikh Ahmed al-Sheibani, also a Mehdi militia commander.

Speaking to reporters inside the mosque, Sheibani said the cleric's fighters would become "normal citizens" if US forces returned to their bases and the southern city became stable.

The uprising is a challenge to Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, who took over from US-led occupiers two months ago and faces the task of getting Iraq ready for elections in January.

His government has tried to defuse the crisis with a mix of threats to storm the shrine and peace offerings.

Interior Minister Falah al-Naqib told Al Arabiya television on Monday: "The government's stand has been clear from the beginning: withdrawal from Najaf or from the holy shrine, disbanding of militias -- and there is a chance to participate in Iraqi political life."

Asked how long the government would wait, he said: "There are limits and I believe time is running out. It could be days or hours, these decisions are taken according to developments."

Sadr, the face of Shi'ite resistance in Iraq, has at times appeared to accept the government's demands only to spurn them later. Serious damage to the Najaf mosque could enrage millions of Shi'ites and fuel hostility to the US presence in Iraq.

Sadr had insisted Sistani send a delegation to take an inventory of precious items in the mosque before it was handed over. Sheibani said that was no longer necessary.

Sistani, who usually lives in Najaf, is in London recovering from surgery. An aide said his offer to mediate the crisis by receiving the shrine's keys remained in place.

The rebellion has triggered violence in seven other southern and central cities, including Baghdad. Hospital officials said four Iraqis had been killed in fighting in the Shi'ite slum district of Sadr City in Baghdad on Monday.

US planes and artillery bombarded targets early on Tuesday in Falluja, which the US military said sheltered supporters of Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, residents said.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special representative for Iraq, Ashraf Qazi, had met Allawi on Monday to discuss the situation in Najaf.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq