Zeev's Turnips Talk Politics (ZTTP)

[Rick Faurot]

Fierce Fighting in Iraq's Najaf, Sadr Defiant
Thu Aug 19, 2004 09:31 AM ET

By Michael Georgy
NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - Fierce fighting erupted in the city of Najaf Thursday after a rebel Shi'ite cleric defied an Iraqi government threat to attack his stronghold in a holy shrine and rejected demands that he end his uprising.

Thick black smoke poured into the sky from near the Imam Ali Mosque, soon after Moqtada al-Sadr spurned the ultimatum from interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi. U.S. aircraft and tanks pounded the area around the shrine.

It was not immediately clear if the government's threatened offensive was under way at the mosque, where the radical cleric and his Mehdi Army militia have holed up.

Away from the mosque area, three mortar bombs hit a Najaf police station in quick succession, killing seven police and wounding 21 others, police said.