by Sammy Ketz
NAJAF, Iraq, Aug 12 (AFP) - US warplanes led an assault on Moqtada Sadr`s militia in Najaf Thursday as US troops and Iraqi forces sealed off the sacred Imam Ali mausoleum in the old city where fighters vowed to fight on.
At least five civilians were killed and six militiamen wounded, said Sadr spokesman Sheikh Ahmed al-Shaibani, who claimed the Mehdi Army had destroyed at least two US armoured vehicles and killed several soldiers.
"We are pounding the American positions with mortars and Katyusha rockets," said Shaibani, as thick black smoke shrouded the sky above the city centre.
"We are ready to fight until the last drop of blood if this is what the Americans want," added another Sadr spokesman, Sheikh Ali al-Sumeisim.
By dusk, one militiamen had been killed and 25 wounded, said the clinic inside the holy shrine.
US troops and Iraqi forces quickly sealed all access to the Imam Ali shrine, in a bid to trap militiamen who remain in control of a two-kilometer (one mile) radius area around the mausoleum.
Marines raided Sadr`s home but found the house empty, after intense fighting in the eastern neighbourhood, Shaibani said. Sadr was now believed to be hiding in the shrine.
In Baghdad, officials vowed the joint US-Iraqi offensive, involving nearly 4,000 troops, would continue and demanded that the Shiite fighters evacuate and not violate the shrine.
"Our government calls on all armed groups to drop their weapons and return to civil society. The political process is open to everyone and all are invited to take part," said a statement from Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.
Defence Minister Hazem al-Shalan said 1,200 militiamen had been captured in Najaf, many of them non-Iraqis who do not speak Arabic.
"The operations are continuing in the city (of Najaf) and will continue until the militia is forced out or they surrender," Shalan told reporters.
Various efforts were underway to defuse the standoff. The government`s pointman on security, Muwafaq al-Rubaie, headed to Najaf in a bid to meet with Sadr and end the assault.
The Najaf office of Iraq`s revered Shiite Muslim spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani also said it was working with all sides for peace.
Explosions and heavy artillery rocked the inner sanctum of Najaf as US warplanes roared overhead, said an AFP correspondent inside the mausoleum.
Shops were shuttered as several hundred armed militiamen fanned out in the plaza outside the golden-domed shrine, revered by Shiites worldwide.
Every now and then fighters would leave their weapons outside the shrine and go in for a short break or a drink of iced water as mosques urged fighters over loudspeakers to stand tall.
"God bless our courageous mujahedin (holy fighters)," they said. "God, here we come to you, Imam Ali, here we come to you."
Hundreds of residents carrying what they could fled the old city. Women clutched the hands of fearful children or held them close as they rushed out from the city`s narrow, dusty alleys.
In one home not far from the shrine, Amer Hadi, 16, lay in an open wooden coffin as his family wailed in grief.
"He was struck by a US sniper as he ventured out of his home at 9:00 am," said Ali Hussein, a neighbour.
At least three US Bradley fighting vehicles were seen at the southern entrance to the shrine compound and residents were being urged on loudspeakers to leave.
"Leave the city. Help coalition forces and do not fire at them," the announcement instructed in Arabic. "We are here to liberate the city."
The other main roads leading to the shrine could not be approached amid fierce fighting.
Marines had announced they were preparing for "major assaults" on Najaf, as Sadr pressed loyalists to fight to the end, regardless of whether he was killed or captured.
Allawi`s office maintained that the Imam Ali would remain safe and that multinational forces would not enter the tomb.
Shortly after the onslaught began, the deputy governor of Najaf quit his job in protest.
"I resign from my post denouncing all the US terrorist operations that they are doing against this holy city," said Jawdat Kadam Najem al-Kuraishi.
Meanwhile, an official from the southern province of Basra offered to send 1,000 Iraqi forces to Najaf to replace US forces, threatening to take matters into his own hands if the government did not respond.