Slaughter as US forces attack Najaf

Nicolas
Rothwell

AT LEAST 165 people were killed and more than 600 wounded in heavy fighting across
Iraq over the past 24 hours as US marines moved to wipe out Moqtada al-Sadr’s
militia forces in the holy city of Najaf.

As US tanks, armoured vehicles and helicopter gunships attacked the radical cleric’s
Mehdi Army, the rebels fired mortar rounds from the courtyard of the Imam Ali
mosque, one of the holiest Shi’ite sites.

Within hours of the onslaught, US marines claimed to control the city centre.
But hundreds of rebels were believed to have dispersed in the tunnels beneath
Najaf’s cemetery to prepare for a last stand.

Iraqi civil defence forces and police units were sent to seal off the holy areas.

"Major operations to destroy the militia have begun," a US commander said.

Correspondents embedded with US troops in Najaf said a pincer movement, supported by air power, began on Thursday morning, local time, with the aim of trapping the insurgents in their hide-outs.

Tanks blocked roads leading to the mosque, while US troops broadcast messages in Arabic saying the offensive was aimed at Sadr’s militia.

"Leave the city," the message said. "Help coalition forces and do not fire at them. We are here to liberate the city."

But the mosque broadcast its own message, urging fighters to defend Najaf. "God bless our courageous mujaheddin," the message said.

US military officials have made clear the rebellion will be crushed at all costs, despite criticism by Iraqi Deputy President Irbrahim al-Jaffari, who last night described the US onslaught as "vicious".

Soon after the attack began, Najaf deputy governor Jawdat Kadam Najem al-Kuraishi quit in protest. "I resign from my post denouncing all the US terrorist operations they are doing against this holy city," he said.

Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi issued a statement saying the shrine would be safe from attack and would not be entered by the US-led forces.

"His excellency is holding the armed elements inside the shrine responsible for any harm or damage that may occur," the statement said.

The offensive was preceded by heavy US bombing of another Shi’ite holy city, Kut, north of Najaf.

The Iraqi Health Ministry said 75 people were killed and 148 wounded in that attack.

The ministry said 44 died and 164 were wounded in Baghdad, mostly in the Shi’ite stronghold of Sadr City. The early fighting in Najaf left 25 dead and 153 wounded; 14 were killed and 77 wounded in Amara; and seven were killed and 52 wounded in Diwaniya.

The US-led assault aims to strengthen the position of Mr Allawi’s interim government and deter further rebellions.

It is a high-stakes move, given that the heavy loss of life will be shown on television. And while US audiences will see reassuring images of helicopters in the sky, Arab viewers are receiving the raw, emotive pictures of the slaughter of the rebels.

The outcome of the conflict may be inevitable, given the overwhelming firepower on the US side, but the images that may reassure anxious US voters will inflame opinion in the broader Arab world.

This dilemma is understood by the rebels and forms the core of their strategy: they have retreated into the holy complex because it is there the US and Iraqi government forces, in destroying the uprising, will do their own cause the greatest harm.

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