Confusion Reigning in Najaf

ONE report said that the siege at Najaf’s Imam Ali mosque was over, and that police had arrested 400 rebel fighters.

Another said that nothing had happened, and that the supporters of the radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr remained in control of one of Shiite Islam’s holiest shrines.

As with most stories involving Sadr, it was difficult to know yesterday what was true and what was not.

After two days of ultimatums and broken agreements to vacate the mosque, Iraqi police were adamant that they had finally ended the siege, entered the holy shrine and arrested 400 fighters.

Sadr’s office, anxious for no loss of face on the part of the young firebrand, insisted negotiations were continuing to hand over the mosque to the senior Shiite cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

Journalists who entered the mosque yesterday afternoon appeared to back the latter version; sporadic fighting was continuing, they said, and no sign of a police presence was visible in the shrine.

The US military, which had surrounded the mosque after a night of fierce fighting, was unable to shed any light on the situation.

Rear Admiral Greg Slavonic said he could not confirm the country’s police had taken control of the mosque, and he did not know Sadr’s whereabouts.

"Right now, we cannot confirm that," he said when asked about Iraqi government statements that police had seized the Imam Ali mosque and arrested hundreds of Sadr’s Shiite fighters.

He said the US military had heard rumours Sadr had fled, but had no intelligence on where he was.

Sadr has been playing a game of brinkmanship with Iraq’s interim government and the US military for days. Holed up in the mosque in Najaf, he has fought a fierce military campaign that has provided a focus for a more widespread uprising across southern Iraq.

Facing an ultimatum from the Iraqi prime minister, Iyad Allawi, to vacate the mosque and lay down his arms, Sadr appeared to have caved in. But just as he had done previously, he then went back on his word.

Yesterday afternoon, one of his top aides said reports the Iraqi police had taken control of the Imam Ali mosque were false.

"The shrine is in the control of the Mahdi army. The Mahdi army will resist any attempt by the Iraqi police to control the shrine," said Sheikh Ahmad al-Shaybani. But he added: "Procedures are under way to hand over control of the shrine to Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani."

He said a delegation was meeting aides of the senior cleric to hand over the keys to the mosque.

"Handing over the keys means handing over the administration of this international landmark to the religious authority. We will be ordinary people visiting it," he said. "Any militiamen who wants to enter it will have to leave his weapon outside."

But he said Sadr was still refusing to disarm his militia, the al-Mahdi army, as demanded by the government to avert an all-out US-led offensive to crush the rebels who have risen up in Najaf and at least seven other cities.

Iraqi officials, however, insisted the siege was over. An interior ministry spokesman said police who entered the mosque had found 500 lightly armed men prepared to surrender. Sadr was not among them, he said.

"There are 500. They were escorted from the shrine, then the police will help them as much as they can. They may well be covered by the amnesty," said Sabah Kadhim.

He said Sadr, who had defiantly vowed to seek "martyrdom or victory", might have escaped.

"It is possible he might have escaped overnight," he said, then urged the cleric to turn himself in. "We urge him to come and turn himself in and he might be covered by the amnesty."

Asked whether all the fighters who had surrendered in the mosque would be eligible for an amnesty, Mr Kadhim said: "We will try to deal with any misled young men."

However, journalists suggested that the situation remained fraught. A Reuters cameraman said fighting was raging even after the government announced Iraqi police had entered the site peacefully.

"Fighting is continuing near the Imam Ali mosque. We can’t approach the shrine because of the clashes," said Haidar Salahuddine. Other witnesses said US forces in the city were exchanging machine-gun fire with Sadr’s militia.

Iraq’s health ministry said at least 77 Iraqis had been killed and 70 wounded in fighting in Najaf in the preceding 24 hours.

It said 13 Iraqis had been killed and 107 others wounded in Baghdad, and one killed and another wounded in Basra over the same period.

Witnesses reported that US AC-130 gunships launched a series of attacks in Najaf during the night.

"There was no way to sleep. Bang, bang all night," said Aziz Hassan, 40. "Many stores are closed. I am living on bread."

Some residents now refuse to believe anything they hear. Mohammed Jassim, a father of eight, shook his head as he stood on a street corner while gunfire crackled overhead and tank shells exploded nearby.

"I really don’t believe any news anymore. We have heard it all before from both sides. We are not living like humans."

Nasser Zichawi, holding on to his daughter, aged three, said: "My daughters cried all night. I told them it was nothing but they just kept crying."

The Iraqi national security adviser, Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, was unable to clear up the confusion, blaming problems in communications between Najaf and Baghdad.

"The situation is not terribly clear now," he said. "The telephone line is not clear, we couldn’t establish communication with the governor of Najaf, neither with the chief of police in Najaf."

But he stressed that the interim government had wanted its security forces, accompanied by religious authorities, to enter the shrine peacefully to defuse the crisis.

Mr Allawi had pledged his forces would not storm the site. In an interview yesterday, he claimed that Sadr’s men had wired the mosque with explosives.

The al-Mahdi army had been entrenched inside the shrine and the alleyways leading to it, along with an adjoining ancient cemetery. Witnesses had said several hundred fighters were inside the sprawling complex.

GETHIN CHAMBERLAIN
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT

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