Fighting continues to rage in Najaf

IRAQ’S prime minister ordered Shi’ite fighters to lay down their weapons and leave the holy city of Najaf last night, but fighting raged on with US helicopter gunships pounding guerrilla positions.

Four days of intense fighting in the heart of Najaf, across southern Iraq and in several districts of Baghdad has raised fears of a second Shi’ite Muslim uprising and piled pressure on Prime Minister Iyad Allawi’s 40-day-old interim government.

In an effort to staunch growing Shi’ite radicalism and a 16-month Sunni-led insurgency, the government has in the past two days introduced an amnesty for low-level guerrillas while reinstating the death penalty for hard-line criminals.