Zeev's Turnips Talk Politics (ZTTP)

[Rick Faurot]

Fighting Erupts Around Rebel-Held Iraqi Shrine
Mon Aug 23, 2004 07:12 AM ET

By Michael Georgy
NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. marines and Shi'ite militiamen fought fierce battles around a shrine in the Iraqi city of Najaf on Monday in some of the heaviest fighting since the 20-day-old rebellion erupted.

At least 10 explosions, some sounding like artillery shells, rocked the area near the Imam Ali mosque, where the Mehdi Army fighters of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr have holed up in defiance of the U.S.-backed interim government.

Gunfire echoed through the alleyways near the shrine.

Shrapnel landed in the courtyard of the gold-domed mosque, whose outer walls have already been slightly damaged in fighting that has killed hundreds and driven oil prices to record highs.