Massive US-Iraqi assault in Najaf, 165 killed in 24 hours of clashes

NAJAF – US marines and warplanes spearheaded a massive two-pronged assault to crush a Shi’ite Muslim uprising in Najaf yesterday, after 24 hours of nationwide fighting left 165 Iraqis dead and 600 wounded.

US jets screeched overhead as massive explosions, tank and machine-gun fire boomed through the holy city and smoke spewed into the air above its historic centre, home to the Imam Ali shrine, revered by Shi’ite all over the world. By mid-morning, US troops and Iraqi security forces had sealed approaches to the mausoleum, as hundreds of petrified residents, urged on by loudspeakers from both the attacking forces and the city’s mosques, fled through the dusty streets, an AFP correspondent said.”Leave the city.Help coalition forces and do not fire at them,” one announcement instructed in Arabic.”We are here to liberate the city.”Armed militiamen fanned out into the deserted plaza outside the shrine, as the mosques urged the Mehdi Army to defy the onslaught and defend the city, while US tanks took up position on roads leading to the mausoleum.US forces, backed by Iraq’s police and national guard, appeared to have mounted a pincer movement seeking to trap militia leader Moqtada Sadr’s fighters in the heart of the city, after failing to dislodge them during eight days of fighting.The office of Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi issued a statement assuring that the holy shrine would remain safe and said he had not approved the entry of multinational forces into the mausoleum.”His excellency is holding the armed elements inside the shrine responsible for any harm or damage that may occur,” it said.The US military announced Wednesday that it was poised for “major assaults” against the Mehdi Army, as Sadr pressed loyalists to fight to the end, regardless of whether he was killed or captured.Shortly after the attack began, Najaf deputy governor Jawdat Kadam Najem al-Kuraishi resigned in protest against “all the US terrorist operations that they are doing against this holy city”.The imminence of the US offensive also appeared to expose fraying relations between the military and Najaf governor Adnan al-Zorfi.Zorfi denied troops were preparing for a final attack and vowed that US soldiers would not approach the Imam Ali shrine, after the military said he had given them permission to do… The government said 24 hours of fighting across Iraq, mostly in the Shi’ite south and Sadr’s Baghdad stronghold and killed 165 people and wounded 594.In the British-controlled southern oil city of Basra, up to 8 000 men protested against US attacks on holy cities, held aloft pictures of Sadr and denounced Allawi, who has vowed to wipe out militias.Further north in Kut, which fell briefly to the Mehdi Army in Sadr’s spring uprising against the US-led occupation, heavy overnight US bombing killed 75 people and wounded 148, the health ministry said.Police said US planes pounded the southern Al-Shakia district, a densely populated Mehdi Army stronghold, for two hours overnight, but medics said many of the dead were women and children.”We never expected to see so many bodies.Our hospital beds are full and many wounded are still lying in the corridor,” said doctor Khader Fadal Arar.The bombs also flattened the local office of Sadr’s movement, which a partisan said was empty at the time, following a day of fierce clashes between Iraqi security forces and insurgents.The Polish-led multinational force based in the area said it had “increased its combat readiness” to support Iraqi security forces.Sadr’s uprising, which has fanned out across Shi’ite cities south of Najaf and led to a British assault on Medhi Army strongholds in Amara, has also forced the closure of a southern oil pipeline, halving Iraq’s crude exports.Limited amounts of oil were being loaded at the Basra export terminal despite ratcheted-up Mehdi Army threats against oil infrastructure if US troops entered Najaf.The National Security Council has said the closure of the southern oil pipeline has cost the country US$30 million a day, sending prices soaring on world markets.- Nampa-AFPBy mid-morning, US troops and Iraqi security forces had sealed approaches to the mausoleum, as hundreds of petrified residents, urged on by loudspeakers from both the attacking forces and the city’s mosques, fled through the dusty streets, an AFP correspondent said.”Leave the city.Help coalition forces and do not fire at them,” one announcement instructed in Arabic.”We are here to liberate the city.”Armed militiamen fanned out into the deserted plaza outside the shrine, as the mosques urged the Mehdi Army to defy the onslaught and defend the city, while US tanks took up position on roads leading to the mausoleum.US forces, backed by Iraq’s police and national guard, appeared to have mounted a pincer movement seeking to trap militia leader Moqtada Sadr’s fighters in the heart of the city, after failing to dislodge them during eight days of fighting.The office of Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi issued a statement assuring that the holy shrine would remain safe and said he had not approved the entry of multinational forces into the mausoleum.”His excellency is holding the armed elements inside the shrine responsible for any harm or damage that may occur,” it said.The US military announced Wednesday that it was poised for “major assaults” against the Mehdi Army, as Sadr pressed loyalists to fight to the end, regardless of whether he was killed or captured.Shortly after the attack began, Najaf deputy governor Jawdat Kadam Najem al-Kuraishi resigned in protest against “all the US terrorist operations that they are doing against this holy city”.The imminence of the US offensive also appeared to expose fraying relations between the military and Najaf governor Adnan al-Zorfi.Zorfi denied troops were preparing for a final attack and vowed that US soldiers would not approach the Imam Ali shrine, after the military said he had given them permission to do… The government said 24 hours of fighting across Iraq, mostly in the Shi’ite south and Sadr’s Baghdad stronghold and killed 165 people and wounded 594.In the British-controlled southern oil city of Basra, up to 8 000 men protested against US attacks on holy cities, held aloft pictures of Sadr and denounced Allawi, who has vowed to wipe out militias.Further north in Kut, which fell briefly to the Mehdi Army in Sadr’s spring uprising against the US-led occupation, heavy overnight US bombing killed 75 people and wounded 148, the health ministry said.Police said US planes pounded the southern Al-Shakia district, a densely populated Mehdi Army stronghold, for two hours overnight, but medics said many of the dead were women and children.”We never expected to see so many bodies.Our hospital beds are full and many wounded are still lying in the corridor,” said doctor Khader Fadal Arar.The bombs also flattened the local office of Sadr’s movement, which a partisan said was empty at the time, following a day of fierce clashes between Iraqi security forces and insurgents.The Polish-led multinational force based in the area said it had “increased its combat readiness” to support Iraqi security forces.Sadr’s uprising, which has fanned out across Shi’ite cities south of Najaf and led to a British assault on Medhi Army strongholds in Amara, has also forced the closure of a southern oil pipeline, halving Iraq’s crude exports.Limited amounts of oil were being loaded at the Basra export terminal despite ratcheted-up Mehdi Army threats against oil infrastructure if US troops entered Najaf.The National Security Council has said the closure of the southern oil pipeline has cost the country US$30 million a day, sending prices soaring on world markets.- Nampa-AFP