Troops braced to hit Najaf
2004-08-24 18:55
Najaf - United States airstrikes began at dusk on Tuesday, as hundreds of Iraqi and US troops braced for an imminent assault on Najaf's holy shrine, with orders to kill or capture militia leader Moqtada Sadr unless he surrendered.
Amid the tension, two ministers in the US-backed interim government escaped bombings in the capital, one of which was claimed by the group linked to Iraq's alleged al-Qaeda chief, Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi.
Heavily armed Iraqi national guards and US marines were seen fanning out across the Old City around the shrine well before nightfall.
About 19:30, two US Apache helicopters fired two missiles near the city's vast Valley of Peace cemetery.
Less than a week before Monday's anniversary of the birth of Ali, Shiite Islam's first and most-revered imam, an assault to rid his mausoleum of militiamen looked imminent.
Hail of gunfire from Mehdi army
"This is the first day they are here and they will be staying here," said Lieutenant Haider Hassan Wahid, esimating about 100 Iraqi troops, pulled together from an amalgam of security forces, were deployed in the Old City.
In the morning, Iraqi national guardsmen and US troops came under a hail of gunfire from the Mehdi army as they marched down Medina Street which runs parallel to the mausoleum, one of the holiest Shiite shrines in the world.
Defence minister Hazem al-Shaalan told television cameras at a US military base outside the ravaged city: "If Moqtada Sadr surrenders, he will be safe and sound.
"If he resists, the only thing for him is death or prison.
"A large Iraqi force will near the mausoleum, waiting for the signal for the assault, unless they surrender. There are only a few hours left."
With the combined US-Iraqi force within 350m of the Imam Ali mosque, aides of the militia leader said he was ready to re-negotiate peace but would not accept humiliation after the 20-day conflict.
"We are ready now to negotiate again," said Ali Smeisim.
Sheikh Ahmed al-Shaibani said: "We will not accept any solution that is humilitating for us... these threats will lead to more destruction and chaos."
National guard at the ready
He repeated a readiness to deliver the shrine to the Shiite religious leadership.
Despite announcing four days ago they would hand over control of the shrine to representatives of the most-revered Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the agreement has since stalled.
Najaf governor Adnan al-Zorfi, who has championed the use of US troops in an effort to flush the Mehdi army out of what was once a glorious pilgrimage city, said Iraq's national guard were ready to evict militiamen from the shrine.
"We are going to cleanse the city and the shrine of militiamen if they do not leave soon of their own accord."
Serious damage to the mausoleum could inflame the already tense stand-off.
- AFP