Yahoo! News – Shiite Shrine Damaged in Najaf Gunfire
NAJAF, Iraq – American tanks firing shells and heavy machine guns made their deepest incursion yet Friday into this stronghold of a radical cleric. Apparent gunfire slightly damaged one of Shia Islam’s holiest shrines, prompting calls for revenge and even suicide attacks.
Explosions and heavy machine-gun fire rocked Najaf for hours, and bands of gunmen carrying assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and mortar tubes roamed the city. After a lull, sporadic firing resumed as night fell.
Four holes, each approximately 12 inches long and 8 inches wide, could be seen on the golden dome of the Imam Ali mosque, burial place of Imam Ali Ibn Abu Talib, the Prophet Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law and the Shiites’ most revered saint.
The mosque, in the middle of Najaf, is about 100 miles south of Baghdad on a high desert plateau overlooking the world’s largest cemetery.
Militia members blamed the Americans for the damage to the mosque, but Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the chief U.S. military spokesman in Iraq (news – web sites), said al-Sadr’s men were probably responsible: “I can just tell you by the looks of where we were firing and where Muqtada’s militia was firing, I would put my money that Muqtada caused it.”