NAJAF, Iraq – U.S. tanks and helicopter gunships pounded insurgents’ positions in this holy city Tuesday, hitting targets in a cemetery where fighting has raged and blasting a building near a gold-domed shrine believed to house followers of anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
Marines drove through neighborhoods with loudspeakers and warned militiamen to “leave Najaf in peace or your destiny will be death.” The troops also distributed handbills encouraging residents to cooperate with U.S. forces and turn in al-Sadr’s fighters.
As clashes continued for a sixth day, U.S. military leaders and representatives of interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi met at a base north of Najaf to discuss ways to destroy al-Sadr’s militia. But in an indication of the political sensitivities the fighting has raised, several provincial leaders in southern Iraq threw their support behind al-Sadr, describing his forces as patriotic and demanding greater regional autonomy from the central government.
Sporadic explosions could be heard elsewhere in the city, and the U.S. military said militants from al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia attacked three police stations, two with small arms fire, one with eight mortar rounds.
Despite the violence, Marines said the clashes were much lighter than in recent days – though few expected it to stay that way. “I think it’s the quiet before the storm,” said U.S. Marine Maj. David Holahan, executive officer of the 1st Battalion, 4th Marines Regiment.
The U.S. military has estimated that 360 insurgents were killed in Najaf between Thursday, when fighting began, and Sunday night, a figure the militants dispute. Five U.S. troops have been killed, along with about 20 Iraqi officers.
Fighting between al-Sadr’s militia and multinational and Iraqi forces also has erupted in the southern city of Basra and Baghdad’s Sadr City district.
U.S. Sgt. Will – an Army Psychological Operations officer who would give only his first name – was blunt.
“They’re not doing anything good for the people of Najaf,” he said, speaking of al-Sadr’s militias. “If they don’t lay down their arms, they’re going to die.”
Meanwhile, the training of Iraqi security troops is halfway complete and should be finished by June 2005, Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Tuesday.
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