Mediators arrive in Najaf

2004-08-17 17:26

Baghdad - A delegation of Iraqis sent by a national conference in Baghdad arrived in Najaf by helicopter on Tuesday to present Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr with a peace proposal aimed at ending a violent insurgency wracking the holy city.

Despite the delegation's arrival, fighting intensified in Najaf, with at least one US warplane dropping bombs near the city's sprawling cemetery on Tuesday afternoon, the site of recent clashes between US forces and Shiite militants.

Explosions and gunfire shook the streets throughout the day and US troops entered the flash-point Old City neighbourhood, where Sadr's mahdi army was based.

The clashes on Tuesday killed three people and wound 15 others, all of them civilians, according to rescue worker Sadiq al-Shaibany.

In Baghdad, a mortar round hit a busy street several kilometers from the national conference, killing seven people and injuring 47 others, officials said.

The mortar did not appear to be aimed at the conference, but rather was a routine attack intended "to create chaos in the country," said Sabah Kadhim, interior ministry spokesperson.

The conference itself was considered a major target for militants waging a 16-month-old insurgency, and two explosions on Tuesday afternoon shook the convention centre where it was being held, the US military said.

Sadr militants have been battling US troops in Najaf since August 5, when a two-month cease-fire broke down. The proposal demands that Sadr's militia lay down their arms, leave the revered Imam Ali Shrine where they are holed up and join Iraq's political process in exchange for amnesty.

Sadr aides said they welcomed the mission, but not the peace proposal.

"The demands of the (national conference) committee are impossible.

"The shrine compound must be in the hands of the religious authorities.

"They are asking us to leave Najaf while we are the sons of Najaf," said Sheik Ali Smeisim.

A much larger delegation of 60 conference members had planned to take a convoy on the 160km journey to Najaf, but the trip was called off because of security concerns.

- AP