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Us retakes najaf governors building Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4899904/http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4899904/
U.S. reportedly destroys Shiite cleric’s offices
Najaf governor’s building recovered; more than 40 militiamen killed
MSNBC News Services
Updated: 5:15 p.m. ET May 06, 2004BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. forces made major gains in their standoff with a militant Shiite cleric, destroying his offices in the holy southern city of Kerbala, retaking the governor’s office in nearby Najaf and killing more than 40 members of his militia, according to coalition officials and witnesses.
In Baghdad, the capital, a suicide attacker detonated a car bomb outside the U.S. headquarters, killing five Iraqi civilians and a U.S. soldier. A statement allegedly from the al-Qaida terrorist network posted on a Web site claimed responsibility for the Baghdad attack.
Amid concerns in Najaf that U.S. troops were about to move directly against the anti-U.S. cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, his militiamen dug in Thursday night, taking positions behind earthen mounds leading into the city center and firing a barrage of mortar shells and small-arms fire at the U.S. base. U.S. soldiers responded with 120mm mortar fire.
Gunmen took cover behind buildings as U.S. helicopters flew overhead. An increased number of fighters could be seen in the city center.
“We will fight until the last drop of our blood,” Dhia Shami, one of the gunmen, said as he stood behind a dirt barricade.
“We expect the Americans to retreat,” said Malek Holeicha, a fellow militiaman. “We are fighting for our faith. They don’t have any faith.”
No resistance at cleric’s headquarters
About eight U.S. heavy armored vehicles and six lighter vehicles rolled into Kerbala on Thursday and took up positions close to the city’s Imam Hussein and Imam Abbas shrines. U.S. forces destroyed the offices of the radical cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, with heavy machine-gun fire, witnesses said.
“They faced no resistance,” a resident said.
Hospital officials said that a fighter loyal to al-Sadr’s Al-Mahdi Army was killed and that nine people were wounded.
In a second front in Najaf, U.S. forces retook the governor’s mansion, which is on the edge of the city, a senior coalition military official told Reuters. Fighters loyal to al-Sadr had controlled the building since they launched their rebellion against the U.S.-led coalition April 4.
“We have resecured the governor’s building, and we intend to have the governor reoccupy it to have the coalition retake control of the city,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
The governor’s office is about 2½ miles from the Shrine of Imam Ali, the holiest shrine in Shiite Islam. U.S. forces are trying to avoid damaging the shrine or other holy sites for fear of further inflaming the passions of Iraq’s majority Shiite population.
The Associated Press reported that the soldiers took control of the building in Najaf without a fight, but heavy gunfire was heard after they moved in, and smoke rose over the city. Motorists fled through deserted streets, honking their horns.
U.S. forces also encountered with al-Sadr’s militia in an operation to the east of Najaf, across the Euphrates River, resulting in 41 militiamen’s being killed, according to the official quoted by Reuters. He gave no details about U.S. casualties.
New governor appointed
The U.S. administrator in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, said a new governor of the restive region, Adnan al-Zurufi, would take office immediately and would be supported by U.S. funds to recruit, train and equip new police and civil defense forces.
The region’s previous governor, Haider Mayali, went to Iran on a visit and never returned. Najaf’s local government melted away during the uprising led by al-Sadr’s.
A senior U.S. diplomatic official quoted by the AP said the occupation leaders were eager to dislodge al-Sadr’s militia — and the Sunni Muslim rebels who still occupy the western city of Fallujah — before the handover of some sovereignty to an Iraqi government on June 30, after which the U.S. mandate to mount such actions is unclear.
The official said on condition of anonymity that U.S. officials had stepped back from their previous demands to capture or kill al-Sadr. Now, the Americans will accept his surrender to Iraqi authorities for trial and the simple disarming of his militia, which could be converted into a political or social organization.
Once Al-Sadr is ousted, Bremer said, U.S. occupiers want to establish zones around Najaf’s holy shrines where only special religious police could carry licensed weapons.
U.S.-led occupiers will spend “hundreds of millions” of dollars to help al-Zurufi restore sovereignty in Najaf and retrain and equip police and civil defense forces. The official said Bremer appointed al-Zurufi after consulting tribal leaders and participants in the 1991 Shiite uprising against former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Five-point plan to pacify Najaf area
U.S. officials have created a five-point plan to re-establish the rule of law, revive the economy and oust al-Sadr’s militia.
The plan involves negotiations with Shiite leaders to create a united front against al-Sadr. Some of the leaders have been negotiating with al-Sadr on behalf of U.S. occupiers, but U.S. entreaties have been rebuffed, the official said.
The plans also include naming a new police chief, city council and provincial administration to replace the old figures who melted away during al-Sadr’s uprising. It also aims to revive religious tourism in the city. Najaf’s shrines and cemetery are major pilgrimage sites for Shiite Muslims, tens of thousands of whom stream in from Iran.
Suicide attack in Baghdad
In Baghdad, meanwhile, a suicide attacker in an orange and white Baghdad taxi exploded a bomb hidden in the vehicle outside a 3-foot-high concrete blast wall that protects a U.S. checkpoint.
In addition to the six people who were killed, 25 others, including two U.S. soldiers, were injured, authorities said.
“There was a long line of cars. Fortunately, the blast barriers worked in this case,” said Col. John Murray of the Army’s 1st Cavalry Division.
The bomb incinerated three vehicles, reducing them to hulks of twisted, charred metal, and it shattered windows of many nearby buildings and residences. Five other cars were badly damaged, some of them turned on their sides from the force of the blast. The explosion was so strong that it hurled the engine of the car carrying the bomb 15 feet from the site of the blast.
A statement attributed to al-Qaida’s military leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility.
A senior official of the U.S.-led administration in Iraq said the attack bore the hallmarks of Zarqawi, who has been blamed for a series of car bombs in Iraq, including the use of artillery shells, a bomb-making method he has used before.
“It was typical — suicidal, spectacular, symbolic,” the official said of the blast, the first major bomb attack in Baghdad since March 17, when a suicide car bomber hit a hotel, killing seven people.
The U.S. soldier who died was the 21st U.S. serviceman to have been killed in Iraq in May. A total of 761 U.S. service members have died since President Bush launched the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, 554 of whom died in hostile action.
Brahimi arrives for talks
Violence continued elsewhere even as special U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi arrived in the Iraqi capital for intensive discussions aimed at forming a transitional government. Brahimi’s arrival was confirmed by a member of the Iraqi Governing Council and another Iraqi official, both of whom spoke on condition of anonymity.
In other developments:
* Al Arabiya television broadcast a videotape showing a blindfolded Iraqi-American who it said was being held hostage in Iraq. On the tape, the man, Aban Elias of Denver, pleaded for help.
* The U.S. command said Thursday that two other U.S. soldiers were killed and two more were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded in Baghdad. A statement that said the explosion occurred just before midnight Wednesday gave no further details.
* A roadside bomb exploded Thursday on Saadoun Street, a busy commercial avenue on the east side of the Tigris River near the Palestine and Sheraton hotels. Two Iraqis were injured.
* Gunmen assassinated the head of the local Agriculture Department in the northern city of Kirkuk in a drive-by shooting Thursday that also killed his driver and wounded his wife, police said. The official, Najib Mohammed, a Kurd, was riding in his car when the gunmen opened fire from another vehicle, Gen. Sherko Shakir said. Insurgents frequently target officials working for the U.S.-backed Iraqi government, accusing them of collaborating with Americans.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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