Fierce fighting in Iraqi holy cities

American gunships and tanks pounded militia positions near two shrines in the centre of the Iraqi holy city of Karbala today,

The US military said it killed 18 fighters loyal to a rebel cleric. Hospital officials said the dead included two Iranian pilgrims.

US forces withdrew from a mosque in the city centre that had been used by insurgents as a base of operations, but said patrols in the city would continue.

The fighting began after insurgents fired several rocket-propelled grenades at US tanks that were patrolling on the outskirts of the Old City, a maze of alleyways and cluttered buildings.

The tanks returned fire, and more than two hours of heavy fighting followed. Smoke billowed from burning buildings.

Much of the fighting was near the Imam Hussein and Imam Abbas shrines, which US forces allege are being used by militiamen as firing positions or protective cover.

Fighting between American forces and cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s militia was also heavy in Najaf and neighbouring Kufa, south of Baghdad.

Explosions rocked the centre of Najaf, near local government buildings, and Friday prayers were cancelled because of the violence. A huge fire blazed in a vegetable market.

A Spanish National Radio reporter was taken captive by insurgents on Friday while travelling to report on al-Sadr’s sermon in Kufa.

Correspondent Fran Sevilla was seized by militia fighters loyal to al-Sadr, news director Javier Arenas said. Sevilla was being held in a mosque by militia fighters loyal to al-Sadr and apparently had not been harmed, Arenas said.

A group of prisoners were freed from Baghdad’s notorious Abu Ghraib jail, centre of a scandal involving abuse of detainees by American soldiers.