American forces bombard Najaf, Falluja; al-Sader handed over Imam Ali Shrine keys to Shiite clergy
The American forces continued their air and land bombardment against Najaf city to the south of Iraq following the final warning voiced by the Iraqi prime minister Eyad Allawi to al-Mahdi army to drop the weapons and evacuate the shrine of Imam Ali.
Ten explosions were heard at least in the besieged city specially in the surrounding of the Imam shrine. News reports said that the bombardment concentrated on the surrounding of the Haidari courtyard, the old city and the cemetery area. Smoke columns came from these area which witnessed the violent bombardment, the first of its kind since ten days.
In a remarkable development, the director of al-Sader office in al-Nasereyah, Sheikh Ous al-Khafaji, said that Muqtada al-Sader asked his supporters to hand over the keys of Imam Ali shrine to the Shiite reference as soon as possible. But al-Khafaji stressed that al-Sader refuses desolving al-Imam al-Mahdi army.
This came after the city witnessed violent clashes between the American and Iraqi forces on the one hand, and the forces of al-Mahdi army on the other concentrated in the surrounding of al-Haidari courtyard. The reports said that the American bombardment hit the surrounding of the shrine.
Concerning Arab reaction on Najaf events, the secretary general of the Arab league Amr Moussa called for immediate halting of the military operations and protecting the civilians in Najaf and honoring its holy sites.
The Islamic resistance movement ( Hamas) denounced the " aggression" which targets the Iraqi people and their shrine and called on the Iraqis Sunni and Shiite, Arabs and Kurds for unity and solidarity.
Meantime, the American planes attacked violently in the early hours of today morning the industrial quarters to the east of Falluja city to the west of Baghdad. No information was available on the victims.
Meantime, violent clashes erupted in the downtown of Basra city between elements of al-Mahdi army and the British forces when the British tanks tried to break into the area adjoining al-Shaheed al-Sader office in al-Tweiseh.
Three British armored vehicles were damaged in a bomb explosion implanted on the road in al-Basra.
Meanwhile, the American military vehicles withdrew from al-Sader city and the American occupation army held inspection points and cordoned the main entrances of the city. A military spokesman said that 50 Iraqis were killed in the fighting since Wednesday.
On the other hand, one American spokesman said that one mortar shelling fell on the roof of the US embassy in Baghdad and this resulted in wounding two persons.
However, one of the Turkish companies working in Iraq said it will evacuate it and evacuate all its employees from the country in a way to preserve the life of its kidnapped employees whose kidnappers threatened to execute within three days if the company does not leave Iraq.