Iraq set to use martial law in terror fight

By DONALD MACINTYRE in Baghdad

The interim Iraqi government last night looked increasingly prepared to impose martial law on sections of the country as coalition and Iraqi forces fought fierce battles with armed insurgents loyal to the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

There were strong hints that the interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi could for the first time apply his controversial emergency powers when he announces new plans for tackling the spreading insurgency tomorrow.

An American UH 1 helicopter was forced to crash land after being hit in the holy Shiite city of Najaf during intense fighting which Falah al-Nakib, Iraq's interior minister, said yesterday had claimed the lives of eight insurgents and wounded 22 others. Iraqi medics said that seven civilians had also been killed.

Dr al Nakib told a swiftly convened news conference yesterday that he and Dr Allawi had taken "the necessary decisions to confront these challenges" and charged that the fresh uprising in Najaf and Wednesday's fierce fighting in the northern city of Mosul were part of an "organised plan to dismember Iraq and kill the Iraqi people."

He added: "All of these terrorists and killers are working for the same organisation regardless of which banners they carry or which hats they wear."

The hints followed a declaration quoted in yesterday's Iraqi newspapers by the interim President Ghazi Ajil Alyawa that "it is the time to use the new national safety law" to protect the country against insurgents.

The battles in Najaf, the worst since a conditional truce two months ago ended several weeks of fighting between al-Sadr and US forces, triggered further violence when gunmen took control of parts of the Shiite Baghdad suburb of Sadr city and wounded seven American soldiers.

In the south of the country, British soldiers were said by a spokesman for al-Sadr's forces to have killed one insurgent and injured three others after they had ambushed an Army patrol, while witnesses reported further engagements between British troops and the al-Sadr led Mahdi Army in the north of the city.

An insurgent spokesman had earlier threatened that "1000 fighters" were ready to attack British patrols in Basra if two detainees were not released.

In Amarah, also in the British military zone, insurgents took to the streets and fired at government buildings after Mahdi Army leaders appealed through mosque loudspeakers to members to mobilise.

Both Dr al Nakib and a senior US officer were adamant yesterday that the fighting in Najaf had started because Mahdi Army insurgents had attacked a police station in the city with mortars, rocket propelled grenades and gunfire. The US military source said that the Iraqi forces had only called in US forces after repelling two attacks by the insurgents.

While Dr. al Nakib said that Iraqi forces were ready to arrest "all criminals including him [al -Sadr]," the senior US officer here said that its forces had not been pursuing the detention of al-Sadr, wanted in connection with the killing of a rival Shite cleric.

The US military has strongly denied that it deliberately surrounded al-Sady's house during engagements on Tuesday.

Striking a bellicose note yesterday, Dr. al Nakib said the Iraqi police and supporting forces had gained "glorious victories" in the ongoing fighting and blamed unnamed Iraqi neighbouring states for fuelling the insurgency. He said that Lebanese and Iranians had been among captured insurgents.

He also levelled sharp criticism against Arab TV networks for their coverage of the insurgency.

In an attack thought to be directed at Al Jazeera and Al Arabya, but made without naming them, Dr al Nakib said the transmission of videos made by hostage takers depicted Iraqis to the world as "savages" and strengthened the insurgents.

There have been hints from Dr Allawi's allies that some form of censorship could be imposed and even threats to close down al Jazeera's Baghdad bureau unless its coverage is changed.

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Herald Feature: Iraq