Sadr Urges Followers to Fight U.S. Forces

Gun Battles in Najaf Continues for 5th Day

Followers of rebel Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr fire a mortar during clashes with U.S. and Iraqi forces in the holy city of Najaf, Iraq Monday. (Hadi Mizban - AP)

BAGHDAD, Aug. 9 -- Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr called Monday for his Mahdi Army to rise up against U.S. forces in the holy city of Najaf, where a fierce gun battle between his militia and U.S.-led forces continued into a fifth bloody day.

"I told the Mahdi Army that I’m one of them. I will not leave Najaf," Sadr vowed in a thunderous speech at the shrine of Ali, one of the most sacred Shiite sites. "I will resist, and they will resist with me."

It was the first time Sadr has spoken in public since fighting broke out in Najaf on Thursday and spread to three other southern cities, as well as Sadr City, the large Shiite slum in Baghdad.

The fighting also prompted officials to stop the flow of oil from fields in the southern sections of the country to the port in Basra, the Associated Press reported. About 1.8 million barrels per day, or 90 percent of Iraq’s exports, move through Basra.

The firefights appeared to die down on Saturday night but picked back up on Sunday and continued into Monday. U.S. Marines, backed by Iraqi security forces, fought the militia through much of the day in Najaf, witnesses said.

A U.S. military official told the AP that Najaf’s governor, Adnan Zurufi, gave U.S. forces permission to enter the city’s holiest site, the Imam Ali Shrine.

"The governor has given us approval to conduct operations in and around the shrine," the official said on condition of anonymity. "We have elected at this point not to conduct operations there, although we are prepared to do so at a moment’s notice."

The U.S. Defense Department Monday identified the U.S. soldier killed in the combat in Najaf on Thursday as Pfc. Raymond J. Faulstich Jr., 24, of Leonardtown, Md. Faulstich, who was assigned to the 89th Transportation Company, 6th Transportation Battalion at Fort Eustis, Va., was killed when his convoy was hit by small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades, the official announcement said.

Two Marines had been reported killed in Najaf last week, and U.S. officials identified them as Sgt. Yadir G. Reynoso, 27, of Wapato, Wash., and Cpl. Roberto Abad, 22, of Los Angeles. Both were assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force from Camp Pendleton, Calif.

U.S. officials have estimated that more than 300 militia members have been killed in the five days of fighting, but Sadr’s spokesmen have denied that the number is that high. Scores of civilians have been killed or wounded, military and hospital officials have said.

In fighting elsewhere Monday, one British soldier was killed in Basra, officials in London reported.

Iraq’s Interior Ministry also imposed an indefinite curfew on Sadr City, running from 4 p.m. to 8 a.m. The ministry cited "security reasons" for the restriction.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi visited Najaf Sunday in an attempt to restore calm to the city. He vowed not to negotiate with the militia and ordered the fighters to leave.

But Sadr said he would not negotiate as long as U.S. and Iraqi fighters were attacking his militia. He asked the Iraqi security forces to work together to "defend their city and country and to maintain security in Najaf."

"I wish I will be bombed by a U.S. atomic bomb, but not killed by an Iraqi bullet," he said. "It is an honor to me to fight the Americans."

Sadr warned that the resistance would grow stronger after Allawi’s visit.

"Allawi asks the resistance to surrender," he said. "It’s very strange. I didn’t ask anyone to join the Mahdi Army or the Sadr trend. They came to defend their city. If they want to defend it, they are welcomed. If they want to leave, no one can stop them. From now on, I call the Mahdi army as the protectors of the religion and the country."

Meanwhile in Baqubah, north of Baghdad, an apparent suicide bomber killed six people and wounded seven outside the home of a local government official. The deputy governor for Diyala province was among the wounded, Reuters reported.

Sarhan reported from Najaf.