US soldiers move in to replace Spanish

US soldiers rolled into a base in the Iraqi Shiite holy city of Najaf today to replace withdrawing Spanish troops and put pressure on a radical anti-American Shiite militia that controls parts of the city.

The base is about three miles from the Shiite holy shrines at Najaf’s heart, which the US military has vowed to avoid to prevent angering Iraq’s majority Shiite Muslims.

The move deploys US troops within the Najaf urban area for the first time since a large force massed outside the city earlier this month to put down the Al-Mahdi Army militia of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

About 200 troops and Military Police rolled into the base today, in part to prevent the site from falling into the militia’s hands after Spanish troops withdraw.

Colonel Paul White, commander of the US 2nd Battalion, 37th Armoured Regiment, said the Spanish would be leaving in the next few days.

Overnight, al-Sadr’s forces shelled the base with 21 mortars, wounding at least one Salvadoran soldier.

Spain, with some 1,300 troops, leads the Plus Ultra brigade in Iraq, a command that also includes forces from El Salvador, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic.

Last week, newly elected Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who opposed the US-led war in Iraq, ordered Spanish troops home as soon as possible.

The limited move into the base also gives US forces a foothold in Najaf from which to pressure al-Sadr, who is holed up in the centre of the city near the shrines, where his militiamen largely control the streets.

US forces have been surrounding Najaf since shortly after the uprising but commanders have been reticent to launch an attack in which they could end up fighting militiamen hiding out in shrines and mosques that are considered sacred by Shiites.