US Roars Into Najaf

[Rspaight]

Appropriately, this is being done on National Day of Prayer.

US begins major offensive against Iraqi cleric Moqtada Sadr

17 minutes ago

NAJAF, Iraq (AFP) - The US-led coalition kicked off a political and military offensive against firebrand Iraqi cleric Moqtada Sadr in a concerted effort to end an insurgency in southern Shiite cities and killing 41 of his militiamen in clashes.

Tanks raced into the holy city of Najaf to secure the office of a new provincial governor who was unveiled in Baghdad as clashes broke out in and around the city.

Iraqi police have been back at the governor's office since it was held briefly by Sadr's Mehdi Army in April, but the military thrust was another sign of US attempts to strengthen its position and isolate Sadr.

"We're now operating ... on their turf. We're getting contact on all sides, but we're dealing with it," US army Lieutenant Colonel Pat White told CNN outside the governor's office.

US troops surrounded Najaf and drew the Mehdi Army from their strongholds, with the most fierce clashes in neighbouring Kufa where the 41 militiamen were killed, according to a senior US military official.

Explosions and heavy gunfire were heard as US tanks, armoured vehicles and troops surrounded the city and moved to within a kilometre (less than a mile) of Shiite holy sites, an AFP correspondent said.

There have been three days of clashes in Najaf, Karbala and Diwaniya in a concerted attempt to take over Sadr strongholds and seize caches of arms to try to draw the sting from a month-long insurgency.

Ten members of the Mehdi Army were also killed overnight and one US soldier wounded during four separate clashes in Baghdad's slum district of Sadr city.

Sadr himself has been holed up in Najaf, alternately issuing threats against America and putting out tentative feelers for a negotiated solution that have been rejected by the US-led coalition.

The young cleric, the scion of an illustrious religious family, is wanted in connection with the murder of a rival cleric last year and the coalition has demanded he face Iraqi justice and disband his Mehdi Army that has dug in around the sacred Imam Ali shrine in Najaf.

"Entering Najaf and Kufa would be high noon for the Mehdi Army all over Iraq (news - web sites)," said Sadr spokesman Sheikh Ahmed al-Shaibani as smoke rose over Kufa where the cleric conducts Friday prayers.

The coalition also pushed ahead with its attempt to woo disaffected young Shiites from Sadr ranks with the promise of a huge injection of money into the area as they unveiled an anti-Saddam fighter as the new governor.

Adnan al-Zorfi, who fought in the 1991 Shiite uprising against Saddam and spent time in the prisons of the old regime, denounced Sadr and made a call "to dissolve all militias."

"The security crisis is affecting the life of the people. Najaf seems almost dead," he said at a press conference in Baghdad.

"The people of the Middle Euphrates are eager for a return of normal life. They are going to have it," said US overseer for Iraq Paul Bremer, alongside the new governor, in the former convention centre of jailed dictator Saddam Hussein (news - web sites).

Zorfi's appointment is part of a strategy by the coalition to shower the region with aid money, rebuild security forces, engage religious and tribal leaders and increase the military pressure on the cleric.

"We are looking at areas where there are young disaffected Shiite youth who are fruitful recruiting grounds for what Moqtada stands for," a senior coalition official said.

Meanwhile in Karbala some 50 kilometres (30 miles) northwest of Najaf, clashes broke out as US and Polish troops moved on a Sadr stronghold, leaving one militiaman dead and nine people injured, including a two-year-old child, according to hospital sources.

Tanks destroyed an already damaged Sadr religious office in the city before withdrawing to their positions. In raids overnight, the Polish-led multinational division said they had seized an "enormous" quantity of explosives and ammunition.