Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s militia still occupied their mosque stronghold in Najaf on Saturday despite handing the keys to the top Shi’ite Muslim cleric in Iraq, and fought a fierce battle with United States forces in the twin city of Kufa.
After a relatively quiet night two mortar bombs were fired on US positions, just 200m from the Imam Ali Shrine at about 9.50am local time.
Fierce fighting has raged in the Shi’ite holy city for more than two weeks, in a bitter showdown between US-led Iraqi government forces and al-Sadr’s Mehdi Army.
For three hours overnight, US forces and militiamen clashed around a Kufa mosque and court house, 10km east of Najaf, said fighters loyal to radical cleric al-Sadr.
One person was killed and 12 wounded in the violence, both militiamen and civilians, said Dr Mohammed Abdel Kazem at Kufa hospital.
A huge hole had been torn in the outer wall of the Maitham al-Tamam compound. Part of the court building opposite was blackened and gutted by fire, with caked blood smeared on the windows, said an AFP correspondent.
Militiaman Abu Mohammed al-Helu said fighters had fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the court building, being used as a US post, accusing US forces of trying to storm the mosque.
A US military spokesperson had no immediate information about the incident.
In Najaf, another AFP correspondent said heavy shooting that lasted less than an hour appeared to come from a northern US base towards the Old City, where militiamen have been hunkered down, shortly after midnight local time.
Friday’s handover of the keys to representatives of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani appeared to provide a face-saving way out of the crisis for al-Sadr, but it was not clear when or if the militia would vacate the shrine.
“We are staying in the shrine as pilgrims, but if we were asked to lock the shrine, we would vacate it,” said al-Sadr spokesperson Sheikh Ahmed al-Shaibani late on Friday when asked if militiamen would leave.
“There are some issues that still need to be arranged and we are waiting for a committee from al-Sistani’s office to finish the procedure.”
He said those issues include handing over gold and money stored in the shrine compound, but gave no other details.
The removal of weapons on Friday and pledge to hand over keys to religious authorities was seen as a key step toward a resolution of the two-week face-off in Najaf that has killed dozens of people and wounded hundreds in fighting between al-Sadr’s militia and a joint U.S.-Iraq force.
The shrine’s keys are for the shrine compound’s outer gates, inner doors and safes inside. — Sapa-AFP, Sapa-AP
‘Death after death, blood after blood’