Fierce fighting after cleric rejects peace demands

Fierce fighting broke out around Najaf’s holy shrine today after a rebel cleric rejected government peace demands and said: “Either martyrdom or victory.”

US tanks and warplanes pounded the area around the Shiite holy place in what may have been a precursor to the government threatened storming of the shrine where militant cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's gunmen are holed up.

Also in Najaf, but in an area away from the shrine, a mortar attack on an Iraqi police station left at least seven policemen dead and more than 30 injured.

An al-Sadr aide said the government ultimatum to disarm his militia immediately and pull them out of the shrine without conditions had been rejected.

Haidar al-Tourfi, an official at al-Sadr office in Najaf, said he received a text message from al-Sadr rejecting the demands.

“Either martyrdom or victory,” the message said, according to al-Tourfi.

Iraqi Minister of State Qassim Dawoud had warned today that if al-Sadr's Mahdi Army did not give up without negotiations, the government would raid the shrine within hours.

A Najaf hospital was overflowing with victims of the police station attack - some of whom were forced to sit on the floor as others lined the halls.

Blood pooled on the floor and moans of pain echoed in the corridors.

Some of the survivors looked dazed, their police shirts covered in blood.

The station has been the frequent target of attacks by al-Sadr militants

After the attack, police raided a local hotel where journalists were staying, saying they suspected some of the reporters helped the attackers locate the police station.