The Hindu : International : Hopes of peace fade in Najaf

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Aug 24, 2004

International

International

Hopes of peace fade in Najaf

NAJAF, AUG 23. U.S. planes pounded Najaf's cemetery and historic centre near the Imam Ali shrine today, dimming hopes of a peaceful end to a near three-week stand-off between U.S.-led Iraqi troops and Shia militia.

Though American journalist Micah Garen was recuperating after an eight-day hostage ordeal in southern Iraq, fears were growing for two French journalists and an Italian, who has not been heard from since Thursday. Dense, black smoke spewed into the sky above the enormous, sacred Valley of Peace burial ground after a deafening explosion followed by a second blast in the early afternoon as a U.S. plane flew overhead. Hours later, another two raids targeted the Old City around a world famous Shiite Muslim shrine, as sporadic gunfights and mortar attacks continued to reverberate through the ravaged streets, said an AFP correspondent.

A dent measuring about one metre square had been punched about 30 centimetres into the shrine's outer compound wall overnight, with rubble and spent parts of a rocket littered on the marble floor.

Supporters of the militia leader, Moqtada al-Sadr, said a helicopter fired a missile into the wall, but the U.S. military denied that the shrine had been targeted.

— AFP, AP

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