Five Killed In Attack On Najaf Police H.Q.

BAGHDAD, Aug 19 (AFP) - Five policemen were killed and 24 wounded Thursday when a mortar bomb smashed into the provincial police headquarters in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf, an interior ministry spokesman said.
"One 120 mm mortar fell on the main police headquarters, which controls all the police stations in the province," said Colonel Adnan Abdul Rahman.
"It happened this afternoon. There are five dead and 24 wounded, all of them policemen," he added.
Loud explosions and gunfire echoed through the historic heart of Najaf, where US and Iraqi forces have surrounded the Imam Ali mausoleum where Sadr's Mehdi Army is holding out.
Minister of State Kassem Daoud said earlier an offensive against the Mehdi Army would be launched within hours unless the radical Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr publicly disarmed.