Pentagon Official Denies Iraqi Police Are In Najaf Shrine

WASHINGTON, Aug 20 (AFP) - A US defense official on Friday denied Iraqi government claims that Iraqi police had entered the revered Shiite shrine in Najaf and evicted armed followers of radical cleric Moqtada Sadr.
"Not a lick of truth to it," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "We are still outside of the shrine, and so are the Iraqi police."
A spokesman for the Iraqi interim government said earlier in Baghdad that Iraqi police had arrested some 400 militiamen at the Imam Ali shrine.