US sweeps into holy cities, pounds Iraqi militia

8.00am - By SULEIMAN AL-KHALIDI

NAJAF, Iraq - US tanks have swept into Iraq's holy cities of Najaf and Kerbala, pounding and killing fighters loyal to Shi'ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

After days of cat-and-mouse skirmishes across southern Iraq and spurred by growing anger against him among rival Shi'ite leaders, troops on Thursday pounced on key buildings to tighten a squeeze on Sadr, who has taken refuge among Najaf's ancient mosques.

American soldiers, whose commanders said they killed more than 40 fighters, secured the local governor's mansion in Najaf.

At the same time, US Iraq administrator Paul Bremer was appointing a new man to run the city and calling on Sadr to give himself up to face charges for the murder of a fellow cleric.

"This does not signal the beginning of a new offensive," a senior US military official told Reuters. "However, we are prepared to continue steadily going after Sadr and his militia, to continue to keep up pressure on them, until we have Najaf completely back in our hands."

Some success in quelling Sadr's month-old insurgency, with tacit approval from Iraqis likely to be part of an interim government from July, is better news for US forces after anger at their treatment of Iraqi detainees in military prisons.

After irritating Arabs with earlier comments, US President George W Bush apologised.

After meeting Jordan's King Abdullah, he said: "I told him I was sorry for the humiliation suffered by the Iraqi prisoners and the humiliation suffered by their families".

He also defended Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary whom some critics have said should resign over the affair.

There were also no reports of deaths among US troops, who have taken mounting casualties lately. At least 18 have been killed so far this month, including one in a suicide car bombing in Baghdad on Thursday that also killed five Iraqis.

April was the bloodiest of 13 months of war with 129 killed.

Troops killed 41 of Sadr's Mehdi Army militia at Kufa, near Najaf, after drawing them into the open, a senior US military official told Reuters. The basis of the number was unclear.

Six more guerrillas died when US armour moved into the centre of Kerbala and destroyed a Sadr office before withdrawing.

US troops steered clear of Najaf's shrines but briefly posted tanks near those in Kerbala, where they had ousted Sadr's forces from several buildings over the past few days.

Italian troops also clashed with Sadr's militiamen, engaging in a short gunbattle south of Nassiriya, Italian officials said.

Tanks surrounded the governor's house in Najaf, 5km from shrines that are the focus of million-strong pilgrimages among Shi'ites from Iraq, Iran and across the world.

"You could say we had an operation on the outskirts of Rome, but we didn't get anywhere near the Vatican," an official said.

The troops in Najaf took occasional rifle and rocket fire. Smoke rose above the city as helicopters circled.

"I would liken it to a hornets' nest," said Lieutenant Colonel Pat White, a US officer at the scene.

Residents said some fleeing militiamen had taken refuge in their homes. Local doctors said two women and a child died.

Sadr, aged about 30, has a strong following among the young and derives authority from his revered father, an ayatollah murdered under Saddam Hussein. He launched his thousands-strong militia a month ago in a bid to oust the US occupation forces and has vowed to send out suicide bombers to defend Najaf.

Mainstream Iraqi Shi'ite leaders urged Sadr this week to disarm and resolve the standoff, which US leaders seem keen to do before handing sovereignty to Iraqis on June 30.

A separate flashpoint with insurgents from the Sunni Muslim minority has cooled considerably in Falluja, west of Baghdad, in recent days as local Iraqi forces, some drawn from the ranks of former rebels, have taken over under a deal with US troops.

UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi arrived in Baghdad for talks on forming an interim Iraqi government in time for the handover. He received a cool welcome from many Iraqi politicians.

Thursday's Baghdad suicide bombing outside the US compound was apparently claimed by a Muslim militant with ties to al Qaeda and US officials said the checkpoint bombing bore the hallmarks of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, an ally of Osama bin Laden.

Another group, the hitherto unheard-of Islamic Rage Squadrons, released a video on Arab television showing what it said was a blindfolded American civilian held hostage in Iraq.

Bush appealed on Arab television for Iraqis to show faith in US democracy and good intentions following revelations of murder and abuse of Iraqi prisoners by Americans.

But evidence that the abuse goes much wider than the handful of soldiers facing court martial built up. New pictures emerged of troops tormenting naked Iraqis. And the Red Cross took the rare step of disclosing it had warned Washington repeatedly of shortcomings in its use of Saddam's once notorious Abu Ghraib.

One former military police officer told Reuters his company killed at least four Iraqis during chaotic disturbances there:

"You've got to understand, although it seems harsh, the Iraqis, they only understand force," he said.

Tales of maltreatment in US custody have been commonplace among released detainees. Stewart Vriesinga of Christian Peacemakers, which has documented hundreds of cases, said: "What we're seeing now is probably just the tip of the iceberg."

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq