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Fighting, artillery barrage rocks Iraqi shrine
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-08-23 23:41
U.S. marines and Shi'ite militiamen fought fierce battles around a shrine in
the Iraqi city of Najaf on Monday in some of the heaviest fighting since the
20-day-old rebellion erupted.
U.S. Army soldiers
aim through the window of an abandoned hotel in Najaf, Iraq, Monday Aug.
23, 2004. Sporadic, but heavy fighting continued overnight and into the
day Monday. [AP] |
At least 15 explosions,
many sounding like artillery shells, rocked the area near the Imam Ali mosque,
where the Mehdi Army fighters of radical Shi'ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr
have holed up in defiance of the U.S.-backed interim government.
Gunfire echoed through the alleyways near the shrine while U.S. tanks kept up
their encirclement around the city's heart.
Shrapnel landed 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 could calm jittery oil markets. Exports had been sharply
reduced due to sabotage and threats from militants.
Oil prices rose to nearly $50 a barrel last week but have since eased
somewhat and U.S. light crude was trading around $47 a barrel on Monday.
A militiaman loyal
to radical Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr armed with a rocket-propelled
grenade launcher takes position in Najaf during clashes with US-led
forces. [AFP] |
Iraq resumed pumping crude
along its northern pipeline, a shipping agent said. The pipeline has largely
been shut since last year due to attacks, and only intermittently pumps oil.
The fighting around Iraq's holiest Shi'ite Muslim shrine eased for a time but
then broke out again in the early afternoon, especially near an ancient cemetery
that adjoins the mosque. Large plumes of smoke rose into the air.
FRUITLESS TALKS
Overnight, a U.S. AC-130 gunship blasted rebel positions after a weekend of
fruitless talks between Sadr's aides and religious authorities to hand 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.
Elderly Iraqi
Shi'ite man Bakka Ibrahim, 79, rests during his weekly visit to the Imam
Ali shrine in Najaf August 23, 2004. All the action didn't prevent the
79-year-old man from sitting on a step and seeking spiritual comfort in
the golden shrine, his weekly routine since he was a young boy. Fierce
fighting broke out around the shrine and pieces of shrapnel landed in the
courtyard of the mosque held by followers of a radical Shi'ite cleric.
[Reuters] |
Speaking to reporters inside the
mosque, Sheibani said the cleric's fighters would become "normal citizens" if
U.S. forces returned to their bases and the southern city became stable.
The uprising is a brazen challenge to interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, who
took over from U.S.-led occupiers two months ago and faces the daunting prospect
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.
Sadr, the face of Shi'ite resistance in Iraq and whose whereabouts are
unknown, has at times appeared to accept the government's demands only to spurn
them later. Allawi has insisted Sadr disarm his militia and take his grievances
to the political arena.
The rebellion has also triggered violence in seven other southern and central
cities, including Baghdad.
Serious damage to the mosque could enrage millions of Shi'ites and fuel
hostility to the U.S. presence in Iraq.
READY TO FIGHT FOR MONTHS
There appeared to be fewer militia along the alleys leading to the shrine on
Monday than on previous days. But Sheibani said fighters were being rotated.
Militants said they had enough food, water and ammunition to last for
weeks, maybe months.
"We are here to kill and we have enough stamina," said Hamed Khudayir, 54,
referring to himself and his 10-year-old son Ali.
In fresh attempts to force foreign firms to leave Iraq, a Turkish contractor
and two Iraqis who worked for a construction company were killed when gunmen
opened fire on their vehicle in the northern city of Tikrit, the U.S. military
said.
An Indonesian worker was killed and a Filipino wounded in the northern Iraqi
city of Mosul on Sunday.
The U.S. military said five of its troops were killed at the weekend.
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.
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