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Politics : The Iraq War And Beyond -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: GUSTAVE JAEGER who wrote (5683)	8/24/2004 11:09:37 AM
From: Ed Huang	Respond to of 9018

Iraq Forces Advance on Najaf Shrine, Battle Rages Tue Aug 24, 2004 09:18 AM ET By Michael Georgy NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi security forces moved to within 400 yards of a holy shrine in Najaf on Tuesday, just hours after the government warned Shi'ite rebels inside they would be killed if they did not surrender. "God willing, we'll be moving in tonight," a commander of one unit told Reuters, adding that around 500 Iraqi troops had been deployed to the area around the Imam Ali mosque, the first time government forces have entered the battle zone. The advance was carried out by 50 servicemen and came after U.S. helicopters fired missiles and strafed militia positions in a cemetery that adjoins the mosque, where most of the Mehdi Army loyal to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr have holed up during a bloody three-week rebellion in the southern city. A U.S. soldier guided the men in. They were shot at by Mehdi militiamen and returned fire. "We are in the last hours. This evening, Iraqi forces will reach the doors of the shrine and control it and appeal to the Mehdi Army to throw down their weapons," Defense Minister Hazim al-Shalaan said at a U.S. army base outside Najaf. "If they do not, we will wipe them out." With fighting raging, U.S. tanks reinforced positions along the southern flank of the mosque. Black smoke rose from the area and automatic gunfire crackled after an overnight bombardment from U.S. warplanes and artillery. The ultimatum from the U.S.-backed interim government is the latest in a series of threats that Iraqi forces will storm the shrine to disarm the militia. MINISTERS TARGETED In Baghdad, insurgents tried to assassinate Iraq's environment and education ministers in separate bombings that killed five of their bodyguards and wounded more than a dozen people, officials said. Environment Minister Mishkat Moumin said she survived a suicide car bomb attack on her convoy in Baghdad. Education Minister Sami al-Mudhaffar was unhurt after a roadside bomb hit his convoy in the city, officials said. Continued ... reuters.com