Most of Najaf in U.S. Control

Rebel cleric Muqtada Sadr vowed Monday not to leave this battle-torn city “until the last drop of my blood has been spilled,” as U.S. and Iraqi forces tightened their chokehold on militants hiding out in one of Shiite Islam’s most sacred shrines.

Najaf Gov. Adnan Zurfi said that after five days of fighting, U.S. and Iraqi forces were in control of the city except for the area around the golden-domed Imam Ali Mosque. In an effort to improve coordination, U.S. troops took “operational control” of Iraqi police and national guard units in Najaf, an American military spokesman said.

A senior U.S. military official said troops had cut off access to the shrine, where members of Sadr’s Al Mahdi militia were holed up and launching attacks. But soldiers on the ground said that they controlled only the area north of the shrine and that Sadr appeared to be sneaking fighters into the mosque. Clashes with U.S. troops came within 800 yards of the holy site.

“We got into a real slugfest,” said Capt. Darren Keahtigh, a company commander.

Each side blames the other for provoking the conflict, which shattered a fragile cease-fire declared in June, and both sides have vowed to battle to the finish.

“I will continue fighting,” Sadr told reporters Monday, two days after calling for restoration of the truce. “I will remain in Najaf city until the last drop of my blood has been spilled.”

The cleric said his militia was fighting to drive U.S. forces out of Iraq.

“Our demand is for the American occupation to get out of Iraq,” he said. “We want an independent, democratic, free country.”

The government of interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, a fellow Shiite, has ruled out negotiations with armed groups, saying it intends to crush militias that refuse to lay down their weapons. Sheik Fatih Kashif Ghitaa, a member of a team of Iraqis trying to mediate the conflict, said the government had shrugged off appeals to come to the negotiating table.

Caught between the uprising by Sadr’s poor, disaffected young Shiite followers and an ongoing Sunni Muslim-led insurgency, Allawi is eager to show an increasingly angry Iraqi public that he is strong enough to quell challenges to public security -- and to his hold on power.

At the same time, he is facing accusations that he is a puppet of the United States. U.S. officials have taken pains to portray Allawi’s government as autonomous, saying American troops in Iraq now act only at the government’s request. Yet Monday’s move to give the U.S. military operational control of the police and national guard units in Najaf is an indication of the strong role American forces continue to play.

Assuming command of the Iraqi forces should allow the U.S. to take stronger control over any assault on Sadr’s militia in the coming days. American military leaders have been frustrated by miscommunication and confusion over who is in charge of operations in Najaf.

For instance, on Monday, the governor attempted to call a cease-fire that U.S. military leaders did not support. Over the weekend, Iraqi police raided Sadr’s house without consulting U.S. forces first. Sadr was not home at the time of the raid.

The U.S. also resumed command Monday of multinational forces in Najaf province and neighboring Qadisiya province, both of which had been briefly under the control of Polish troops.

Allawi’s tough line and the closing-in of U.S. and Iraqi forces here have fueled speculation that a final push to oust Sadr’s militia is approaching.

Adding to the conjecture, a senior U.S. military official said Monday that Zurfi, the governor, had given American and Iraqi forces permission to strike the Imam Ali shrine if necessary. Such a move would almost certainly inflame Shiites in Iraq and around the world.

“We fully understand the implications,” the U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. But by launching sorties from inside the mosque and nearby buildings, Sadr’s fighters had turned the shrine into “a legitimate target of attack,” the official said. He added that any move against the mosque would almost certainly be worked out in advance with Najaf officials.

An Apache attack helicopter fired a Hellfire missile into the so-called exclusion zone around the mosque Monday, a move U.S. military sources said had Zurfi’s authorization. It was not known whether the missile caused any damage.

Forces on the ground were mindful of the potential repercussions of getting much closer to the shrine.

“We know they’re in the mosque, but I also know what would happen if we put a tank round in the mosque,” said Maj. Doug Olivant, operations officer for the Army’s 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment.

The fighting that began Thursday has left scores, perhaps hundreds, dead in the most intense street combat since a similar uprising in Najaf in the spring. U.S. officials estimated Monday that 360 militants had been killed, but Sadr’s representatives contended the toll was one-tenth that.

Five U.S. troops have been killed and at least 19 wounded in the fighting, the military said. In addition, four Iraqi national guardsmen have been killed and 12 injured. With temperatures around 120 degrees, heat-related ailments have been a problem.

On Monday, battles continued to erupt near the Imam Ali shrine in a vast cemetery that militants have turned into a makeshift base and munitions storage site.

There was a slight lull in the conflict during the afternoon, when the governor announced the 24-hour truce for “humanitarian” reasons. A Sadr representative said his followers planned to use the cease-fire to collect their dead.

But just three hours later, the cease-fire collapsed amid complaints from U.S. forces that enemy fighters were pounding three of their positions around Najaf with mortar rounds, including in the graveyard, where American soldiers had been fighting for nearly 40 hours.

As U.S. troops used seven Bradley fighting vehicles to push the militants back toward the mosque compound, several hundred Marines fanned out around Najaf in a show of strength.

“We’re going back into the streets to let them know we’re still here,” said Maj. David Holahan, executive officer of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment.

Chu reported from Baghdad and Sanders from Najaf with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit. Staff writer Mark Mazzetti in Baghdad contributed to this report.