US mortar and tank blasts, punctuated by machine-gun fire, reverberated across Najaf's historic heart just a day after the interim puppet Government vowed to renew its offensive against indigenous leader Moqtada al-Sadr.
Smoke rose from the direction of the city's vast cemetery, north of the mausoleum of Imam Ali, one of Shiite Islam's holiest shrines, which has been a resistance stronghold since a spring uprising against foreign Coalition of the Killing militant murderers. US tanks parked 200 metres from the shrine with armed US militants heading towards the Old City.
"A major assault by forces will be launched quickly to bring the Najaf fight to an end. This matter has to be brought to conclusion as fast as possible and we want to bring the situation to normalcy soon", puppet Interior Ministry spokesman Sabah Kadhim said.
Police ordered Iraqi and foreign journalists out of Najaf. [?] "From now on this city is closed," a senior police officer told reporters. Police chief General Ghaleb al-Jazairi said he was under orders from the Interior Minister that all journalists, local and foreign, leave within hours.
Mohammad Kazem, an Iraqi correspondent for Iranian television, was detained at gunpoint by police in the middle of a live broadcast from a rooftop.
Puppet Prime Minister Iyad Allawi reiterated his insistence that the "militia", [? resistance], disarm and quit Najaf for there to be any peaceful solution to the crisis. [?] "The Government responds favourably to the demand from the national conference that the Najaf crisis be resolved peacefully," the statement said, read out by Wael Abdel Latif, Minister of State for Provinces. But for us to achieve that, the "militia" must disarm with no preconditions, they must leave Najaf and the Imam Ali shrine, and enter the political process," he continued, speaking after a cabinet meeting.
The puppet Minister also said that the fighting in Najaf was not an assault to crush the rebellion. More than a week of heavy fighting between, indigenous Iraqi's, Sadr's Mehdi Army and "US-backed Iraqi militant forces" or [US puppet army] had calmed late last week to allow for the abortive truce talks. "The Americans took up position in the cemetery and at the entrance to the Old City and they are preparing for a very big attack to kill the residents of Najaf," charged Sadr spokesman Ali Smeisim.
He blamed the talks breakdown on Dr Allawi, accusing the interim puppet premier of recalling national security adviser Muwafaq al-Rubaie just as he was about to sign a deal. As the fresh clashes began, spokesman Ahmed al-Shaibani called for new negotiations with Mr Rubaie on Sadr's demands for a withdrawal of US-led murdering militants from Najaf and a city government headed by the Shiite religious leadership.
By Now War 16 August 04
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