The Hindu : International : Fighting edges closer to Najaf shrine

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, May 15, 2004

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International

Fighting edges closer to Najaf shrine

By Atul Aneja

Iraqi detenus walk out of the Abu Ghraib prison after being released by U.S forces on Friday. — AP

MANAMA, MAY 14. Fierce fighting has erupted close to a religiously sensitive site in the heart of the Iraqi holy city of Najaf even as U.S. occupation authorities began a major damage control exercise by releasing hundreds of prisoners lodged in the notorious Abu Ghraib jail.

The U.S. forces and militiamen of the Mehdi army, loyal to the Shia cleric Moqtada Al Sadr traded fire in a sprawling cemetery in Najaf, only 3 km away from the revered Imam Ali shrine.

The cemetery is the second largest in the world and has a special status because prominent religious leaders and scholars have been buried here.

As the fighting raged, Mr. Al Sadr, evading U.S. troops, surfaced again at the mosque in neighbouring Kufa, and delivered yet another fiery sermon condemning American occupation.

The U.S. troops had blocked the road linking the twin cities to prevent him from reaching Kufa.

At the graveyard, the troops used canons and machine guns while militiamen responded with rocket propelled grenades and mortars.

Smoke could be seen billowing out from the scene of the fighting. Al Jazeera quoting hospital sources in Najaf said the U.S. forces had fired at civilians, wounding 13 people and there were reports of bodies seen on the streets.

Karbala rocked

Clashes also continued to rock Karbala, another symbol of Shia religious identity where the Imam Hussein's shrine is located. Four Iraqis were reported killed in the city, 50 km. from Najaf.

Mr. Al Sadr described the U.S. President George Bush and the British Prime Minister Tony Blair as "the heads of tyranny.'' The two leaders, he said, had paid attention to what he described as the `fabricated' case of Nicholas Berg, the American civilian who was beheaded by assailants suspected to have links with the Al-Qaeda, but ignored the sufferings of Iraqis in jails run by the occupation forces.

He also condemned Iraqis who cooperate with the Americans and "are willing to execute the occupiers' orders.''

Mr. Al Sadr, in his last address to worshippers in Kufa, had cited the U.S. atrocities in Abu Ghraib, to rally his militiamen for undertaking a fresh wave of attacks.

As Mr. Al Sadr spoke, U.S. authorities released hundreds of inmates of the Abu Ghraib prison and ferried them away in buses.

The decision to release prisoners follows the surprise visit to Iraq by the embattled U.S. Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld.

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