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| Tuesday, 24 August 2004 |
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Fierce fighting erupts round rebel-held Najaf shrine NAJAF, Iraq, Monday (Reuters) Fierce fighting broke out around a shrine in the holy Iraqi city of Najaf on Monday, and pieces of shrapnel landed in the courtyard of the mosque held by followers of a radical Shi'ite cleric, Reuters witnesses said. "It's quite intense. I've heard at least 10 explosions," a Reuters reporter said from inside the compound of the gold-domed Imam Ali mosque, Iraq's holiest Shi'ite Muslim shrine. Some of the blasts sounded like artillery shells, he said. Militiamen loyal to cleric Moqtada al-Sadr remained in control of the mosque and U.S. tanks had pulled back from positions they held on Sunday as close as 800 metres (yards) from the compound, he said. Earlier, a U.S. AC-130 gunship blasted rebel positions near the mosque and U.S. tanks tightened their encirclement of the building after talks on its handover to representatives of the Shi'ite establishment stalled. Sheikh Ahmed al-Sheibani, a commander of the militants and a top adviser to Sadr, said the mosque wall was hit by U.S. fire on Sunday night but the claim could not immediately be confirmed. Serious damage to the mosque precincts could enrage millions of Shi'ites and fuel hostility to the U.S. presence in Iraq. Also on Sunday, an Iraqi group claiming links to Sadr freed U.S. journalist Micah Garen after holding him hostage in the southern Iraqi city of Nassiriya. Another Islamic militant group posted pictures on its Web site of 12 Nepalis it says it is holding hostage because they cooperated with U.S. forces. Earlier U.S. hostage in Iraq Micah Garen, appearing on a videotape, has called on the United States to stop the bloodshed in the Iraqi city of Najaf, Al Jazeera television said. |
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