US troops lay siege to Najaf in hunt for al-Sadr

THE US army laid siege to the holy Iraqi city of Najaf yesterday in a bid to capture a radical cleric leading an uprising against coalition forces.

The 2,500-strong 3rd Brigade Task Force, along with Spanish and Polish troops, set up an exclusion zone around Najaf to prepare for a possible assault to capture Muqtada al-Sadr.

An attack would outrage Iraq's Shiite majority, a community that apart from al-Sadr's militia has so far shunned anti-US violence.