US tanks take up position
16/08/2004 19:33  - (SA)  

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Huge assault on Sadr 'imminent' Journalists forced out of Najaf Iraq conference collapses Sadr will accept UN troops

Abdul Hussein al-Obeidi

Najaf - US tanks rolled into the Old City of Najaf towards a holy Shiite shrine where militants were hiding on Monday as participants at a national conference voted to send a delegation here to try to negotiate an end to the fighting.

The city was hit by series of explosions in the late morning that shook the vast cemetery, the scene of many battles between US forces and militants.

Witnesses also reported US tanks had moved to within 500m of the revered Imam Ali Shrine.

"We are proceeding with our operations.

"We are moving forward and we captured some positions inside the Old City from the south during the night and this morning," police chied Ghalib al-Jazaari said.

The fighting has cast a pall over the national conference in Baghdad, an unprecedented gathering of 1 300 religious, tribal and political leaders from across Iraq meant to be a key first step toward democracy.

Some of the delegates threatened to walk out unless the crisis was resolved.

On Monday, the conference voted to send a delegation to Najaf to ask radical Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr to tell his followers to drop their weapons and join the country's political process.

"The door is very open to all Iraqis, regardless of their religion, ethnic background, to join the free political process," Shiite cleric Hussein al-Sadr, a distant relative of Muqtada Sadr, told the conference.

Muqtada Sadr's aides said they supported efforts to end the violence.

"We are ready to accept any mediation for a peaceful solution," aide Ahmed al-Shaibany said.

At the same time, however, al-Shaibany called on tribal chiefs throughout Iraq to travel to Najaf to form human shields to protect Sadr's Mahdi army militant and the Imam Ali Shrine.

The US military estimates hundreds of insurgents have been killed since the clashes broke out in Najaf on August 5, but the militants dispute the figure.

The continued Najaf fighting has undermined Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's attempts to show he is in control.

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