Al-Sadr vows to continue fighting

A radical cleric whose loyalists continued to battle US troops today vowed to continue fighting and said he would not to budge from the holy city of Najaf.

Some of his masked gunmen patrolled the British controlled southern city of Basra today – and no British troops could be seen.

Meanwhile, a suicide car bomb exploded north-east of Baghdad killing six people but only wounding the deputy governor who was the apparent target, officials said.

The deputy governor of Diyala province, Aqil Hamid al-Adili, was said to be in stable condition after attack on his home

Police guards had been posted outside al-Adili’s house in Balad Ruz, 40 miles from Baghdad, and six people, including four police officers, were killed in the attack.

It was the latest violence to target officials working with the interim government.

Fighting raged in Najaf for a fifth straight day between US forces and Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia.

Explosions and gunfire were heard throughout the city and US helicopters hovered overhead. A Najaf hospital spokesman said three were killed, including two policemen, and 19 were wounded.

The US military says hundreds of militants have been killed in the violence in recent days the militiamen put the number far lower.

Al-Sadr vowed to keep up the battle: “I will continue fighting,” he said. “I will remain in Najaf city until the last drop of my blood has been spilled.”

“These are honest attacks against the occupation.” he said.

“Resistance will continue and increase day by day. Our demand is for the American occupation to get out of Iraq. We want an independent, democratic, free country.”

Sadr’s words were a defiant challenge to interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, who visited the war-shattered city yesterday under heavy security and called on the Shiite militants to stop fighting.

The fighting has sparked violence in other Shiite areas of Iraq.