Shrine damaged in clash between US and Shi’ite militia

ONE of the most sacred shrines of Shia Islam was damaged during clashes between US forces and radical Shi’ite militiamen that killed at least 13 Iraqis, some of them civilians.

A representative of Iraq’s most powerful Shi’ite cleric has accused rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s militia of deliberately attacking the revered shrine in Najaf.

Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer al-Mehri said the al-Sadr militia fired a mortar shell at the dome of the Imam Ali Shrine, but missed and hit a wall.