Major Assault Imminent, Fighting In Iraq Holy City Mars Conference

by Patrick Kamenka
NAJAF, Iraq, Aug 15 (AFP) - A major US-led assault on Shiite fighters in Najaf appeared imminent as journalists were kicked out and clashes flared in the Iraqi holy city Sunday, provoking an outcry at a national conference.
One person was killed and two wounded in a stand-off between demonstrators and US troops.
Mortar and tank blasts, punctuated by machine-gun fire, reverberated across Najaf's historic heart a day after the interim government vowed to renew its offensive against the militiamen of radical leader Moqtada Sadr.
The casualties were caused by shots from a cemetery where Iraqi and US forces had taken up position, a surgeon told AFP.
"One demonstrator was killed and two others were wounded by American fire from the cemetery," he said.
Bullets hit the northern wall of the mausoleum of Imam Ali, held by militia loyal to Sadr, eyewitnesses said.
Worshippers emerged shouting and moved towards the cemetery. They came under fire but continued despite pleas from militiamen to them to back off. The crowd eventually dispersed after the casualties occurred.
Smoke rose from the direction of the vast cemetery north of the mausoleum of Imam Ali, one of Shiite Islam's holiest shrines, which has been a militia stronghold since a spring uprising against foreign troops.
"A major assault by forces will be launched quickly to bring the Najaf fight to an end," said interior ministry spokesman Sabah Kadhim.
"This matter has to be brought to conclusion as fast as possible and we want to bring the situation to normalcy soon."
"The Americans took up position in the cemetery and at the entrance to the Old City and they are preparing for a very big attack to kill the residents of Najaf," charged Sadr spokesman Ali Smeisim.
Police ordered Iraqi and foreign journalists out of Najaf late Sunday.
"From now on this city is closed," a senior police officer told reporters.
Police chief General Ghaleb al-Jazairi said he was under orders from the interior minister that all journalists, local and foreign, leave within hours.
Prime Minister Iyad Allawi reiterated his insistence that the militia disarm and quit Najaf for there to be any peaceful solution to the crisis.
"The government responds favourably to the demand from the national conference that the Najaf crisis be resolved peacefully," said the statement, read out by Wael Abdel Latif, minister of state for provinces.
"But for us to achieve that, the militia must disarm with no preconditions, they must leave Najaf and the Imam Ali shrine, and enter the political process," he said.
More than a week of heavy fighting between Sadr's Mehdi Army and US-backed Iraqi security forces had calmed Friday to allow for the abortive truce talks.
In Baghdad, the renewed violence marred the long-awaited national conference, hailed as Iraq's first experiment in democracy in decades.
After a speech by UN envoy Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, dozens of delegates leapt to their feet shouting: "As long as there are air strikes and shelling, we can't have a conference."
Yahya Mussawi, from a Shiite faction that worked to defuse Sadr's spring uprising, jumped on the podium before being forced down by organiser Fuad Maasum.
"It is time that you heard us and we ask that military operations stop in Najaf immediately and dialogue take place," he shouted.
During the ensuing break, mortar bombs exploded in the heavily fortified compound around the venue, shaking the building as organisers screamed at participants to get away from the windows.
Two people were killed and 17 wounded when one mortar round struck near Haifa Street, one of the areas included in a daytime curfew imposed for the conference.
Five people were killed when US forces carried out multiple bombing raids in the flashpoint city of Fallujah, after coming under attack by Sunni Muslim insurgents, the military said.
The US-led coalition meanwhile announced the deaths of three soldiers in 24 hours. A US soldier was killed in northern Baghdad while a Dutch soldier and a Ukrainian officer were killed in separate incidents south of the capital.
Meanwhile in Washington leading US lawmakers said Iraqi leaders and multinational forces were left with few options to end the deadly standoff in Najaf.
Democratic Senator Jospeh Biden, an outspoken critic of President George W. Bush's policies in Iraq, accused the president of mismanaging the war and leaving Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi with little real power to quell the nationwide unrest.
"This is a consequence of us giving sovereignty to Allawi but not capacity. This is a reflection of the failure of the administration's year-long effort after Saddam's statue came down," Biden told ABC television.
The house of Iraqi Interior Minister Falah al-Nakib in Samarra was partially destroyed by a shell late Sunday, police said.
Unknown assailants fired 11 shells and rockets on various districts. "One partially destroyed the interior minister's house," the local deputy police chief said.