Plumes of black smoke rose above the embattled city of Najaf today after American warplanes bombed insurgent positions overnight and supporters of a radical cleric charged that shrapnel from a US attack had hit parts of the Imam Ali Shrine. The military denied the claim.

Sporadic gunfire echoed through Najaf today after a night of heavy US bombing that saw radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr order his fighters to hand control of a revered Najaf shrine to top Shiite religious authorities.

Two US soldiers were killed during fighting in Najaf, a military spokesperson said today.

Two days of fighting between a rebel cleric’s militia and US and Iraqi forces in the holy city of Najaf has left about 300 of the militants dead, the US military said today.