Heavy Clashes Near Iraq Shrine, Militia Entrenched

[ze_dscherman]

NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - Heavy fighting erupted near a sacred mosque in the Iraqi city of Najaf on Wednesday, as U.S. and Iraqi forces tightened their grip around Shi'ite militants after a threatened assault on the shrine did not go ahead.

American tanks and troops advanced closer to the Imam Ali mosque after U.S. aircraft unleashed their firepower overnight on rebels who have defied the interim government by refusing to leave the shrine and end a bloody three-week rebellion.

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Around 500 Iraqi troops have been deployed around the mosque, the first time government forces had entered the battle zone in a conflict that has undermined Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's authority only two months after he took over from U.S.-led occupiers.

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Some 2,000 U.S. marines backed by aircraft and tanks have done most of the fighting, pounding rebels whose main weapons are AK-47 assault rifles, rocket propelled grenades and mortars.

More: http://news.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6062750&pageNumber=1


On edit: article from BBC:

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Unconfirmed reports suggest the Americans and the Iraqi troops fighting alongside them have pushed further into the old city and are very near to the entrance to the shrine.

A correspondent for the French news agency AFP said the closest US vehicle had halted just 20 metres from the gate of the mosque compound.

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The BBC's Alastair Leithead in Najaf says the narrow streets around the Imam Ali shrine are gradually being destroyed block by block as the fighting goes on, and that fires rage almost continuously around the city.

The city's only hospital is treating dozens of civilians injured in the weeks of fighting, many of them children with bullet and shrapnel wounds, our correspondent adds.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3596760.stm

[DoNotRefill]

1. hmmmm....I guess militias really are NOT useless....

when it comes to armed conflict against the US military.....this shoots a major hole in the argument that the US militia (everybody, except a few elected officials) couldn't fight the military put forth by those who would disarm us and leave us at the mercy of the government by giving them a monopoly on the effective use of force.

[leftchick]

2. Najaf used to be a beautiful little city.....

Until the US came and "freed" them... :puke:






An Iraqi Shi'ite family raise their hands while crossing a road near Najaf's old town, August 24, 2004. Iraqi security forces moved to within 400 yards of a holy shrine in Najaf, just hours after the government warned Shi'ite rebels inside they would be killed if they did not surrender. Photo by Thaier Al-Sudani/Reuters