U.S. Forces Move Against Cleric During Battle in Shiite Holy City

In a high-stakes move, U.S. troops confronted fighters loyal to anti-American cleric Muqtada Sadr in this holy city Friday, turning its sprawling cemetery, sacred to the world’s Shiite Muslims, into a battlefield.

Tanks roared among the tombs, backed by helicopters bristling with guns, in an effort to blast positions held by Sadr’s Al Mahdi army, who were using the burial grounds to launch attacks on American troops.

Gunfire ricocheted through the city and exploding mortars rocked several neighborhoods, destroying part of two homes near the residence of one of the city’s eminent ayatollahs, Abdelaziz Hakim. An aide to the most influential Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, urged all armed forces to leave the city, according to Arab satellite television channels.

During the fighting, the shrine of Imam Ali, one of the founders of the Shiite sect, was damaged, according to wire service reports. Four holes, each about 12 inches long and 8 inches wide, were visible on the gold dome of the mosque. They appeared to have been caused by machine-gun fire.

A military spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition adamantly denied that they were caused by American fire. “We have not attacked the shrine of Imam Ali. We continue to respect the Shrine of Imam Ali,” said Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt.

“If there’s a hole in the shrine, go ask Muqtada who put that hole in the shrine.... I would put money on Muqtada’s forces having caused it,” he said. Kimmitt added that the coalition was responding when fired upon or when Iraqi police are attacked.

During their nearly three-week standoff with Sadr’s militia, U.S. troops have sought to avoid damage to shrines in Najaf and other holy cities for fear of enraging Iraq’s Shiite majority. In other areas of the country, such as the so-called Sunni Triangle outside Baghdad, U.S. forces have attacked mosques when insurgents have used them as fighting positions.

The U.S.-led forces in southern Iraq want to force the dissolution of the Al Mahdi and to see Sadr, who spoke at a mosque in nearby Kufa on Friday, handed over to an Iraqi judge for investigation into the slaying of a rival cleric last year.

The fighting in Najaf, which began with mortar fire around 8 a.m., involved hundreds of Al Mahdi militiamen armed with rocket-propelled grenades and Kalashnikov rifles. U.S. tanks, traveling in pairs, advanced on suspected mortar positions in several areas, including the cemetery and an amusement park, according to witnesses and U.S. military officials. Several helicopters buzzed overhead for hours, providing air support as U.S. soldiers on foot cleared buildings and returned fire.

Kimmitt described the operation as “counterinsurgency warfare” and a “small engagement” rather than a full-scale assault.

Late Friday, it remained unclear how many casualties had been suffered by Sadr’s fighters or by U.S. troops. But at dusk, ambulance sirens could be heard screaming through the streets carrying the dead and wounded to the hospital.

It was the first time U.S. soldiers had advanced so deeply into Najaf, apparently having concluded that trying to take on the rebels was worth the risk of alienating mainstream Shiites. Even Shiites who dislike Sadr are sensitive about non-Muslims approaching the sacred shrines.

During the last two days, U.S. soldiers took a similar tack near the two holy shrines in Karbala, which is also sacred to Shiites. Gun battles continued there Friday but were less intense, according to residents.

Shiite reaction to the intrusion in holy areas was mixed, with opinions divided roughly along political lines. Those in neighborhoods that support Sadr condemned the American activities, while in other Shiite areas there was widespread and often unequivocal support for the American action.

Hassan Abdul Hussein, 42, a cloth merchant with a busy shop just a few hundred feet from one of Baghdad’s biggest Shiite shrines in the Kadhimiya neighborhood, spat out his fury at Sadr as he leaned against several bolts of cloth. “Muqtada al Sadr is deliberately shooting at the mosque dome in Najaf. This is a devilish act,” Hussein said. “None of us accept this.”

Hussein and several of his fellow cloth shop owners had been visiting Najaf every Thursday since the fall of President Saddam Hussein’s regime to pray at the shrine of Imam Ali and to visit the tombs of family members. It is considered a special blessing in the Shiite sect to be buried in the vast Najaf cemetery close to the shrine where Ali himself is said to be interred.

For the last two weeks, however, they have been unable to make their regular visits because of militia checkpoints on the roads and the threat of fighting.

A majority of Najaf natives appear to resent how Sadr has used the city as a shield, brought the tourist trade to a standstill and allowed his militia to loot government offices. One theory is that he has been trying to foment chaos so his troops can engage in widespread looting.

However, a recent poll showed a dramatic rise in support for Sadr in recent months. Three months ago, 2% to 3% of Iraqis said they supported or strongly supported him. But after his militia launched its fight with U.S. forces, more than 50% of those polled said they either somewhat supported or strongly supported him.

Najaf’s newly appointed governor, Adnan Zurufi, said this week that he would not detain Sadr for fear it could set off violence. However, he said he was prepared to use force to disarm the Al Mahdi militia.

“I said clearly to [Iraq civilian administrator L. Paul] Bremer and the officials in Baghdad earlier this week that Muqtada should not be detained,” Zurufi said. “We must settle this in a way that guarantees that the law will be applied but also allows Muqtada to save face.”

Such a formula remained elusive as Sadr has continued combining head-on confrontations with U.S. troops in Najaf, Karbala and his stronghold in Baghdad’s Sadr City neighborhood with surprise attacks in other cities where he has followers.

Outnumbered in Najaf, where about 2,500 U.S. forces are stationed within striking distance, Sadr loyalists Friday attacked the lightly protected coalition headquarters in Nasiriya, about 200 miles south of Baghdad.

Firing rocket-propelled grenades, the insurgents bombarded the fortified building in which about 20 international staff were still at work in the early evening.

Earlier in the day, a crowd of about 50 people, some armed with rocket-propelled grenades and others with Kalashnikovs converged on the local governor’s office, where they fought Iraqi police. After a gun battle, the Italian forces -- the coalition partners in the area -- as well as the Iraqi police appeared to have regained control.

No details were available on casualties.

Sadr appeared to be under some pressure from the U.S. troops, and in his Friday sermon in the ancient mosque at Kufa he called on his followers to travel to Najaf and for Najaf to defend him. His representative in Baghdad made a similar plea at Friday prayers in the Sadr City neighborhood.

The armed confrontations in Najaf started three days ago when Sadr followers took control of the police headquarters long enough to steal cars and equipment. They were ejected but tried again Thursday and were stopped by American troops who came into the city. On Friday, Sadr militiamen tried yet again to take over the city’s main police station. The fighting continued late into the night.

Rubin reported from Baghdad and Salman from Najaf. Times staff writer Monte Morin in Baghdad and special correspondent Saad Fakhrildeen in Najaf contributed to this report.