Marines hit Najaf in rebel 'purge'

NAJAF - United States Marines, backed by aircraft and tanks, launched a major offensive to crush a Shiite militia rebellion in the holy Iraqi city of Najaf last night, igniting mass street protests in at least two other cities.

Warplanes and Apache helicopters pounded militia positions in an ancient cemetery near the Imam Ali Mosque, one of Shiite Islam's holiest sites. Thick black smoke poured into the sky as helicopters skimmed mud-brick rooftops in the heart of the city.

Last night, US troops controlled Najaf's city centre and had blocked entry to the shrine, a witness said.

In the southeastern city of Kut, at least 72 people were killed in US air raids and fighting between Iraqi police and the Shiite Mehdi army of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, the Health Ministry said. It said 25 people were killed in clashes in Baghdad in the past 24 hours.

Protests broke out in Baghdad and the southern city of Basra after the offensive began, putting the heat on interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi who could face a political firestorm from the majority Shiite community should Shiite holy sites in Najaf be damaged or the death toll escalate.

The assault excludes the Imam Ali Mosque, the US military said. A spokesman for Iraq's Interior Ministry told CNN that Iraqi forces alone would disarm militia holed up at the shrine.

But the Mehdi army raised the prospect of a bloody battle, vowing no surrender and saying Sadr was leading the defence.

US Marines made clear their intention early, broadcasting a message in Arabic from Humvees that said: "To the residents of Najaf: Coalition forces are purging the city of Mehdi army."

A threat by Sadr's militia kept a main southern oil export pipeline shut although crews had repaired it after sabotage stopped operations for three days. A senior Sadr official had warned that militiamen would blow up pipelines in the south if US forces tried to storm their Najaf bases.

Militiamen responded to the American assault in Najaf by firing rocket-propelled grenades and mortar bombs.

Thousands of civilians fled the heart of the southern city any way they could. Some escaped on carts pulled by donkeys and by late morning many streets were deserted.

Most of Sadr's men and the cleric himself are holed up around the cemetery or the adjoining Imam Ali Shrine. Some 2000 US servicemen and 1800 Iraq security men are deployed around Najaf.

As news of the offensive filtered in, thousands of Shiites took to the streets. "Long live Sadr, America and Allawi are infidels," protesters in Basra chanted. A similar protest took place in Baghdad's Shiite district of Kadhimiyah. "Allawi is the enemy of God," they chanted.

- REUTERS


Herald Feature: Iraq