U.S., Iraqi forces battle cleric's militia in Najaf

Baghdad - In the midst of escalating violence in the holy city of Najaf, U.S. military and Iraqi security forces Thursday battled the Mehdi Army, the militia loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, the Iraqi Defense Ministry and U.S. military officials said.

A U.S. helicopter transporting a wounded U.S. service member was shot down by small-arms fire in Najaf, a senior Multi-National Forces official told CNN. Two additional U.S. military personnel were injured in the crash landing.

Responding to a request from the Najaf governor's office, American forces began fighting alongside the Iraqi forces at 11 a.m. (3 a.m. EDT). Najaf is located about 80 miles (130 kms) south of Baghdad.

There have been nine deaths reported, all of them Iraqis, mostly Mehdi militia fighters.

The Najaf governor's office said a joint force of Iraqi police, members of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps and U.S. Marines were battling the insurgents.

The fighting became so fierce at one point that Marines called in close air support, which dropped a 500-pound bomb on a suspected mortar position.

The clashes are taking place in Najaf's city center, about 1,000 meters from the Imam Ali mosque in Najaf's "Old Town" section, according to the Iraqi Defense Ministry and the governor's office.

Announcements through the loudspeakers at the mosque claimed the shrine had been damaged by the U.S. military in the firefight and called on the people of Najaf to fight back.

Asked about the mosque being hit by U.S. or Iraqi forces, the Multi-National Forces spokesman said he'd be "very suspect of that accusation."

One police officer has died in the fighting and two others were wounded, the governor's office said.

Officials at al-Hakim hospital said two Iraqi civilians were killed in the fighting and eight more were wounded. Ahmed al-Shaibani, a spokesman for al-Sadr in Najaf, said six members of the Mehdi Army have died.

Earlier in the day, a U.S. Marine quick reaction force was deployed in Najaf as the city's main police station came under fire twice within two hours, a U.S. military statement said.

"A significant number of aggressors, presumed to be members of the self-designated [Mehdi] Army, began attacking the station with heavy machine guns, RPGs, mortars, and small arms around 3 a.m.," the statement said.

"This came after an initial attack on the police station around 1 a.m. was unsuccessful."

The attacks came a day after the Mehdi Army released five of six Iraqi police officers kidnapped Sunday.

A spokesman for the Najaf governor's office Thursday said all five were returned with an "X" branded on their backs, using a metal bar.

"We consider this to be an unacceptable act of terrorism," he said.

The hostages were taken because one of the leading sheikhs of the Mehdi Army was arrested by police in Karbala, sources from the Najaf governor's office told CNN Tuesday.

The Marines joined Iraqi security forces in defending the police station, the statement said, but fired no shots as Mehdi Army members withdrew from the area. There were no Marine casualties. Enemy casualties were unknown.

The military statement condemned the attack on the station:

"The attack is an overt violation of the cease-fire agreement reached in June between coalition forces and Muqtada Sadr, as brokered by the Governor of Najaf" and other civic leaders.

"Attacking local police, whose sole job is to maintain peace in Najaf and keep its citizens safe, is another demonstration of the [Mehdi] Army's disregard for the people of the city, and their desire to prevent a free and prosperous Iraq."

The upsurge in violence began Monday as an al-Sadr spokesman accused U.S. forces of being involved in an operation against the cleric. The spokesman said U.S. and Iraqi forces surrounded and fired at al-Sadr's home in a neighborhood of Najaf. The cleric's Mehdi Army began to shoot back and a gunbattle continued for hours, he said.

A senior Multi-National Forces Iraq official said no U.S. forces were used.

Also on Thursday morning, a suicide car bomber detonated near an Iraqi police station south of Baghdad, killing five people and wounding 21 others, according to Iraq's Ministries of Health and Interior.

The bomber drove a mini-bus near the station in Mahawil, about 40 miles (64 km) south of the Iraqi capital, according to interior ministry official Col. Adnan Abdul Rahman.

The Ministry of Health could not confirm the identities of the casualties.

Clashes between police and insurgents in the northern city of Mosul left 12 Iraqis dead and 26 wounded, hospital and police sources said Wednesday.

Rifle and rocket-propelled grenade fire as well as explosions were heard in the streets of the city.

The provincial governor imposed a curfew that began at 3 p.m. local time (7 a.m. EDT), and two hours later, provincial forces, police and Iraqi National Guard took control, according to Hazem Gelawi, head of the governor's press office in the Nineveh province.

Gelawi said the city is stable and expects the curfew to be lifted Thursday.

Responding to the ongoing rash of kidnappings and slayings in Iraq, the State Department announced Wednesday what it called a new "policy statement" on terrorism -- vowing that "no concessions" will be made to terrorists.

"As members of the multinational force in Iraq operating under U.N. Security Council Resolution 1546, we're united in our resolve to make no concessions to terrorists, nor to succumb to terrorist threats," said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher.

"We understand that conceding to terrorists will only endanger all members of the multinational force, as well as other countries who are contributing to Iraqi reconstruction and humanitarian assistance," he added. -- CNN News

Click Here To Have Your Say On This Story

Brudirect.com News