Najaf Standoff Continues; 90 Killed, 70 Hurt In Iraq Battles
The standoff in the key city of Najaf continued on Saturday with Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr gunmen still controlling streets around the great shrine after 16 days of fighting with US-led forces.
In the continuing violence, two US soldiers among 90 killed and 70 other injured in the past 24 hours in Najaf, where US forces pounded Shia militia bastions overnight, the health ministry said.
Fighters loyal to Sadr were patrolling the narrow alleys leading to the mosque a day after police claimed to have taken control, reports said, adding that Sadr has offered to hand over the shrine - sacred to Muslims worldwide - only to more senior Shia clergy.
A US defence official on Friday denied Iraqi government claims that Iraqi police had entered the revered Shia shrine in Najaf and evicted armed followers of radical cleric Moqtada Sadr. "Not a lick of truth to it," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "We are still outside of the shrine, and so are the Iraqi police," he added.
Friday night passed quietly, the calm broken only by the roar of US jets.
Sadr's Mehdi Army (MA) militia had appeared poised to hand over control of the Imam Ali shrine on Friday.
Earlier some reports had indicated that Shia militiamen holed up in the holy city of Najaf handed over the keys of their stronghold to aides of top moderate cleric on Friday but denied they had capitulated in their 16-day standoff with US-backed security forces.
"The keys were handed to the office (in Najaf)," Sistani spokesman Sayed Murtadha al-Kashmiri told AFP news agency in London where the top cleric has been receiving medical treatment.
Earlier on Friday, a spokesman for Sadr said Sistani had agreed to take the keys to pave the way for a peaceful resolution to the bloody standoff around one of holiest shrines.
"We went to Sistani’s office this morning to agree on giving up the keys to the mausoleum. His office called Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in London, who agreed to take the keys," Sheikh Ahmed al-Shaibani told AFP in Baghdad.
Al-Shaibani said Moqtada Sadr was still in Najaf and would not leave it alive. "Moqtada Sadr is a son of Najaf and leader of the Mehdi Army (militia) in Najaf. He will not leave Najaf except (through) martyrdom," he told Al-Jazeera television.
The symbolic handover came after a day of confusion in which Iraqi government officials had insisted against all evidence on the ground that the police had entered the mosque compound and detained several hundred militiamen.
In a sermon read on his behalf in the nearby Kufa Mosque, al-Sadr said he wanted the religious authorities to take control of the Old City from his Mehdi Army, though he also called on all Muslims to rise up if the shrine is attacked.
"I call on the Arab and Islamic people: If you see the dome of Hazrat Ali Shrine shelled, don’t be lax in resisting the occupier in your countries," he said. Militiamen loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr on Friday removed their weapons from the revered Hazrat Ali Shrine.
By Friday evening, militants had withdrawn all their weapons from the shrine compound, where civilians and unarmed militia members mingled in peace, though some sporadic gunfire could be heard in the streets.
Interior Ministry spokesman Sabah Kadhim said the police entered the shrine and arrested 400 armed militants without incident. However, reporters who were inside the shrine throughout the afternoon said that not a single policeman entered the compound and no arrests had been made.
Meanwhile, some other reports surfaced that Iraqi police had managed to enter the site unopposed but Iraq's National Security Adviser, Mouwaffaq al-Rubaie, confirmed for the BBC that the shrine was still out government control.
Al-Shaibani said MA fighters would "resist any attempt by the Iraqi police to control the shrine". Peace talks have been under way with representatives of the most influential Shia leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, who is recovering from heart surgery in Britain.
Meanwhile, fresh fighting had broken out between US troops and Shia militia in the southern part of Najaf, casting doubt on official claims police are in control of the shrine. US Marines in Najaf cannot verify that Iraqi police are in control of a holy shrine, a CNN correspondent with the marines said on Friday.
Some 90 people were killed and another 70 wounded in the past 24 hours in Iraq’s holy city of Najaf, where US forces pounded Shia militia bastions overnight, the health ministry said. But by Friday morning, the city was quiet, and Allawi stepped back from his government’s threats to raid the mosque.
"We are not going to attack the mosque, we are not going to attack Moqtada al-Sadr and the mosque, evidently we are not going to do this," Allawi told BBC radio. By Friday morning, the shrine compound, which had been filled with hundreds of chanting and bellicose gunmen in recent days, appeared far calmer. Far fewer people were inside and no armed men could be seen.
US forces said they were still geared up for a fight. "We are continuing to do planning and preparations for continuous offensive operations to get Mehdi militia destroyed, to capture Moqtada al-Sadr and to turn the holy shrine back to the Iraqi people," Lt-Col Myles Miyamasu, of the 1st Cavalry Division, told CNN.
US Marine Capt Carrie Batson said the US warplanes had been "clearing Moqtada militia positions" east of the revered Hazrat Ali Shrine on Thursday night, when at least 30 explosions shook the Old City. Before dawn Friday, US forces also fired precision-guided bombs at militiamen who were firing mortars at the US troops in the neighbouring cemetery and Old City, Batson said.
North of Baghdad, in the Sunni insurgent bastion of Samarra, two US soldiers were killed when a makeshift bomb hit their patrol on Friday evening.
Meanwhile, two US Marines were killed in action in Iraq’s volatile Anbar province, the US military said on Friday. One Marine assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force died of wounds received in action Wednesday and a second was killed in action Thursday while conducting "security and stability operations,’’ the statement said.
In Fallujah, US warplanes launched two air strikes on Friday. Two people were killed and six injured in the first attack just after midnight, said Dia’a al-Jumeili, a doctor at Fallujah’s main hospital. A second warplane fired at least one missile into an industrial area of the city later on Friday morning. It exploded in an open field, leaving a crater and spraying shrapnel across the doors of nearby automobile shops, but causing no serious damage. Two Iraqis were killed in the southern Iraqi town of Samawah early on Friday after a shoot-out with Dutch troops stationed in the area, an army spokesman here said.
Baghdad, August 21 (NNN):
In the continuing violence, two US soldiers among 90 killed and 70 other injured in the past 24 hours in Najaf, where US forces pounded Shia militia bastions overnight, the health ministry said.
Fighters loyal to Sadr were patrolling the narrow alleys leading to the mosque a day after police claimed to have taken control, reports said, adding that Sadr has offered to hand over the shrine - sacred to Muslims worldwide - only to more senior Shia clergy.
A US defence official on Friday denied Iraqi government claims that Iraqi police had entered the revered Shia shrine in Najaf and evicted armed followers of radical cleric Moqtada Sadr. "Not a lick of truth to it," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "We are still outside of the shrine, and so are the Iraqi police," he added.
Friday night passed quietly, the calm broken only by the roar of US jets.
Sadr's Mehdi Army (MA) militia had appeared poised to hand over control of the Imam Ali shrine on Friday.
Earlier some reports had indicated that Shia militiamen holed up in the holy city of Najaf handed over the keys of their stronghold to aides of top moderate cleric on Friday but denied they had capitulated in their 16-day standoff with US-backed security forces.
"The keys were handed to the office (in Najaf)," Sistani spokesman Sayed Murtadha al-Kashmiri told AFP news agency in London where the top cleric has been receiving medical treatment.
Earlier on Friday, a spokesman for Sadr said Sistani had agreed to take the keys to pave the way for a peaceful resolution to the bloody standoff around one of holiest shrines.
"We went to Sistani’s office this morning to agree on giving up the keys to the mausoleum. His office called Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in London, who agreed to take the keys," Sheikh Ahmed al-Shaibani told AFP in Baghdad.
Al-Shaibani said Moqtada Sadr was still in Najaf and would not leave it alive. "Moqtada Sadr is a son of Najaf and leader of the Mehdi Army (militia) in Najaf. He will not leave Najaf except (through) martyrdom," he told Al-Jazeera television.
The symbolic handover came after a day of confusion in which Iraqi government officials had insisted against all evidence on the ground that the police had entered the mosque compound and detained several hundred militiamen.
In a sermon read on his behalf in the nearby Kufa Mosque, al-Sadr said he wanted the religious authorities to take control of the Old City from his Mehdi Army, though he also called on all Muslims to rise up if the shrine is attacked.
"I call on the Arab and Islamic people: If you see the dome of Hazrat Ali Shrine shelled, don’t be lax in resisting the occupier in your countries," he said. Militiamen loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr on Friday removed their weapons from the revered Hazrat Ali Shrine.
By Friday evening, militants had withdrawn all their weapons from the shrine compound, where civilians and unarmed militia members mingled in peace, though some sporadic gunfire could be heard in the streets.
Interior Ministry spokesman Sabah Kadhim said the police entered the shrine and arrested 400 armed militants without incident. However, reporters who were inside the shrine throughout the afternoon said that not a single policeman entered the compound and no arrests had been made.
Meanwhile, some other reports surfaced that Iraqi police had managed to enter the site unopposed but Iraq's National Security Adviser, Mouwaffaq al-Rubaie, confirmed for the BBC that the shrine was still out government control.
Al-Shaibani said MA fighters would "resist any attempt by the Iraqi police to control the shrine". Peace talks have been under way with representatives of the most influential Shia leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, who is recovering from heart surgery in Britain.
Meanwhile, fresh fighting had broken out between US troops and Shia militia in the southern part of Najaf, casting doubt on official claims police are in control of the shrine. US Marines in Najaf cannot verify that Iraqi police are in control of a holy shrine, a CNN correspondent with the marines said on Friday.
Some 90 people were killed and another 70 wounded in the past 24 hours in Iraq’s holy city of Najaf, where US forces pounded Shia militia bastions overnight, the health ministry said. But by Friday morning, the city was quiet, and Allawi stepped back from his government’s threats to raid the mosque.
"We are not going to attack the mosque, we are not going to attack Moqtada al-Sadr and the mosque, evidently we are not going to do this," Allawi told BBC radio. By Friday morning, the shrine compound, which had been filled with hundreds of chanting and bellicose gunmen in recent days, appeared far calmer. Far fewer people were inside and no armed men could be seen.
US forces said they were still geared up for a fight. "We are continuing to do planning and preparations for continuous offensive operations to get Mehdi militia destroyed, to capture Moqtada al-Sadr and to turn the holy shrine back to the Iraqi people," Lt-Col Myles Miyamasu, of the 1st Cavalry Division, told CNN.
US Marine Capt Carrie Batson said the US warplanes had been "clearing Moqtada militia positions" east of the revered Hazrat Ali Shrine on Thursday night, when at least 30 explosions shook the Old City. Before dawn Friday, US forces also fired precision-guided bombs at militiamen who were firing mortars at the US troops in the neighbouring cemetery and Old City, Batson said.
North of Baghdad, in the Sunni insurgent bastion of Samarra, two US soldiers were killed when a makeshift bomb hit their patrol on Friday evening.
Meanwhile, two US Marines were killed in action in Iraq’s volatile Anbar province, the US military said on Friday. One Marine assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force died of wounds received in action Wednesday and a second was killed in action Thursday while conducting "security and stability operations,’’ the statement said.
In Fallujah, US warplanes launched two air strikes on Friday. Two people were killed and six injured in the first attack just after midnight, said Dia’a al-Jumeili, a doctor at Fallujah’s main hospital. A second warplane fired at least one missile into an industrial area of the city later on Friday morning. It exploded in an open field, leaving a crater and spraying shrapnel across the doors of nearby automobile shops, but causing no serious damage. Two Iraqis were killed in the southern Iraqi town of Samawah early on Friday after a shoot-out with Dutch troops stationed in the area, an army spokesman here said.
Baghdad, August 21 (NNN):
posted by R7 | 8/21/2004 12:10:00 PM
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