US troops are said to be ready to attack fighters holed up inside Imam Ali Shrine

NAJAF, Iraq, August 10, 2004

IslamOnline.net & News Agencies – In an unprecedented move seen as a prelude to a feared massive attack on some of the holiest religious places in Iraq, US forces called Tuesday, August 10, on Najaf residents to evacuate their homes.

The call came as fighting between US-led troops and Mehdi Army fighters, loyalists of Iraqi firebrand Shiite scholar Moqtada Al-Sadr, raged for the seventh day, bringing about a halt in output from southern Iraqi oilfields and sending world oil prices soaring.

US troops in Humvees drove through the center of the Shiite city, using loudspeakers to call on civilians to evacuate the zone immediately and on Mehdi Army fighters to leave, reported Agence France (AFP).

Residents told AFP it was the first time US troops had called for a mass evacuation, adding that they feared a massive attack on bastions of Sadr's Mehdi Army in the city's cemetery and the shrine of Imam Ali, one of Islam's holiest sites.

In another sign an imminent massive attack could be on the making, US Marines have taken over as the lead force in Najaf from the Polish troops, according to CNN International.

"The decision to order the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit to take over control in Najaf and neighboring Qadisiya from a Polish-led multinational contingent was because of the "deteriorated security situation" in Najaf, the US-led coalition said in a statement."

Knowing how thorny and sensitive it is to launch any massive attacks against Imam Ali Shrine and the old cemetery in Najaf, US military officials declared late Monday that the US-appointed governor of Najaf has given their troops permission "to enter the Ali shrine" to attack what he called "militants".

"We respect the shrine and any action taken will be on the order and direction of the governor," the spokesman said, according to AFP.

CNN further quoted a US commander as saying the US forces and Iraqi National Guard troops had surrounded the Imam Ali Shrine and were sweeping the cemetery in an operation he called "measured and methodical."

Artillery and tank shells earlier Tuesday pounded positions in the vast cemetery, which was the scene of heavy bombardment Monday by US marines backing Iraqi government police, said an AFP correspondent.

A thick column of black smoke also rose from near the Imam Ali Shrine, and Iraqi police in trucks were seen heading for the area while two US helicopters flew overhead.

On Monday, Sadr vowed to fight to "defend Najaf until my last drop of blood" and rejected calls by interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi for his men to lay down their arms and leave the city.

Later Monday, US President George W. Bush said "we're making pretty good progress about stabilizing Najaf" during a visit by Polish Prime Minister Marek Belka.

In a sign fighting could possibly spill over, Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City witnessed intense clashes for three and a half hours early Tuesday when a US patrol came under repeated attacks, according to AFP, as it drove through the center of the sprawling slum.

A US military spokesman said there had been Iraqi casualties, but no injuries to US soldiers or damage to any equipment.

Sporadic gunfire and mortar rounds continued to explode in Sadr City later in the morning. Shops remained boarded up and the main road closed to traffic as armed militiamen roamed the streets, said an AFP correspondent.

A curfew had officially been imposed until 8:00 am Tuesday in the wake of fierce fighting between Sadr followers and US forces that has left many dead.

The health ministry said that most of the 12 people reported killed and 127 wounded in the capital in the 24 hours to Tuesday morning were taken to hospitals in Sadr City.

A British soldier was also killed Monday during clashes with Iraqi fighters as Sadr supporters vowed to turn Basra into a "second Najaf".

The health ministry said two people were killed and six wounded in clashes with the Mehdi Army in Amara in the 24 hours to Tuesday morning.

Northwest of Kut, three civilians were wounded, including one seriously, when a roadside bomb exploded as a Ukranian convoy passed through Numaniyah, said police local chief Colonel Ali Jabbar Kadhim.

The Shiite city of Kut, south of Baghdad, fell to Sadr loyalists in the spring before US forces and Iraqi police wrested back control in April.

The British military said it was not conducting patrols through Basra and understood that Iraqi police were in full control of the city, which has so far escaped a mass escalation.

Violence also continued elsewhere, as an Iraqi National Guard officer on patrol was shot dead in the flashpoint city of Fallujah by gunmen, said police and a doctor.

Najaf residents were told by US troops to evacuate their homes

Following public threats from at least two Sadr aides in the southern port of Basra against key oil infrastructure, an official with the state-owned Southern Oil Company announced Monday a halt in crude pumping "for security reasons."

The oilfields of Shiite southern Iraq are the only source of crude Iraqi exports since an attack on a pipeline artery to Turkey limited deliveries from the main northern oilfields last week. The halt sent New York crude to an all-time high.

Light sweet crude for delivery in September surged 1.02 dollars to 44.97 dollars a barrel early afternoon, thundering past the previous record, set Friday, of 44.77 dollars.

But an AFP correspondent said that limited amounts of crude for export were being loaded at Basra Tuesday.

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