US tanks roll into holy city centre

American tanks charged into the centre of the holy city of Najaf today and shelled positions held by fighters loyal to a radical cleric who launched an uprising against the US-led coalition last month.

Explosions and gunfire rocked neighbourhoods, and civilians scurried for cover.

The US attack represented a major push against cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose forces fought intense battles with American forces this week in another holy city, Karbala.

The intensifying battles have eclipsed efforts by Iraqi political and tribal leaders to seek a peaceful solution to the confrontation ahead of a planned transfer of sovereignty to Iraqis on June 30.

Much of the fighting in Najaf happened in the city’s vast cemetery, a maze of footpaths and tombs that offers ample hiding space for militiamen armed with automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.

Several tanks rumbled into the cemetery, and American troops moved along main roads in the city near the Imam Ali shrine, one of the holiest sites in Shia Islam. US helicopters and a jet fighter flew over the city.

Al-Sadr, who faces an arrest warrant in the murder of a moderate rival cleric in April 2003, was holed up at his office near the shrine. The American incursion was the deepest yet into Najaf, and US soldiers also appeared to have cut off the main road between Najaf and nearby Kufa, where al-Sadr routinely delivers a Friday sermon.

The United States released more than 300 Iraqi detainees from Abu Ghraib prison today, a day after Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made a surprise visit and insisted the Pentagon did not try to cover up abuses there.

The coalition periodically releases prisoners from Abu Ghraib, the notorious Saddam-era jail on the western outskirts of Baghdad where the international scandal over abuses of prisoners by American soldiers has damaged the credibility of the coalition. There are more than 3,000 prisoners at the jail.

Images of abuse were taken by American military guards at the prison. Courts-martial have been ordered for three military police guards.

Residents reported intermittent gunfire in Karbala on Friday as US soldiers again clashed with militiamen of al-Sadr’s al-Mahdi Army. But fighting was not as intense as in previous days.