Full-scale battle to crush Iraqi insurgents

Explosions and gunfire echoed across the holy city of Najaf today as the US military and Iraqi forces launched a full-scale assault to crush a weeklong uprising by militiamen loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Thousands of US troops were taking part in the offensive, which began with the cordoning off of the revered Imam Ali shrine, its vast cemetery and Najaf’s Old City.

“Major operations to destroy the militia have begun,” said US Marine Major David Holahan, of the 1st Battalion, 4th Marines Regiment.

The assault was expected to be led by Iraqi forces – many of whom have only minimal training – in an effort to ease anger from Iraq’s Shiite majority if the offensive damages the shrine where many insurgents have taken refuge.

The offensive risks inflaming Iraq’s Shiite majority – including those who do not support the uprising – if it targets the shrine.

US commanders say interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi would have to approve any operation at the shrine itself.

Al-Sadr, the firebrand cleric leading the insurgents, yesterday exhorted his followers to fight on even if he is killed.

The United States had announced its plan for the offensive yesterday, and in response al-Sadr loyalists in the southern city of Basra threatened to blow up the oil pipelines and port infrastructure there.

The US military has estimated that hundreds of insurgents have been killed in the Najaf fighting, but the militants dispute the figure. Five US troops have been killed, along with about 20 Iraqi officers.

Elsewhere, two US Marines were killed when a CH-53 helicopter crash-landed in the volatile Anbar province west of Baghdad. The military said that no enemy fire was observed at the time.

An Islamic Web site carried a videotape that appeared to show militants in Iraq beheading a man they identified as a CIA agent. The authenticity of the videotape could not be verified immediately.

A US official said CIA officials have accounted for all employees and no one was missing.

Al-Sadr’s forces continued to fight coalition forces and Iraqi authorities in other Shiite areas across Iraq.

Overnight clashes between insurgents and British forces in the southern city of Amarah killed 20 people and wounded 50, according to interior ministry spokesman Adnan Abdul Rahman. The British reported two minor casualties among their own troops.

In Kut, 100 miles southeast of Baghdad, Iraqi police fought off attacks from al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army at the central police station and other government offices. The fighting killed four people and wounded 20.

A roadside bomb exploded near a market in Khan Bani Saad, north-east of Baghdad, killing at least six Iraqis and wounding nine, a hospital official said.