Explosion inside Najaf shrine

2004-05-25 14:12

Najaf - Seven people were killed and 45 wounded in fighting on Tuesday in Iraq's central holy city of Najaf, where a mortar round exploded inside Shiite Islam's holiest shrine, medics said.

The upper part of one of the main gold-covered gates leading to the tomb of revered Shiite Imam Ali was damaged and rubble strewn on the blood-stained floor of the shrine.

"We have seven killed and 45 wounded, including 10 injured at the shrine," said medics at Najaf's Hakim hospital.

Aides of Shiite radical leader Moqtada Sadr said earlier that 10 people were wounded in the attack on the mausoleum, which happened at around 11:00 and blamed it on US troops.

But there was no immediate confirmation of who fired the mortar. A spokesperson for the US military in Baghdad said she had no reports of any unrest in Najaf.

Calm returned to the holy city by early afternoon, following clashes one kilometre north of the shrine.

For more than a month, Najaf has been the scene of almost daily clashes between US troops and militiamen loyal to Sadr.

Five Iraqis were killed and 18 wounded in overnight fighting in nearby Kufa, after 32 people died in clashes there early Sunday, 20 of them in a US raid on a mosque in the town.

- SAPA