World

Crisis In Najaf Eases But...

August 21, 2004 / 6:15 AM EDT / CBS/AP

Militiamen loyal to rebel Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Friday removed their weapons from the revered Imam Ali Shrine in Najaf as a 2-week-old uprising centered on the holy site appeared to be drawing to an end.

Militants from al-Sadr's Mahdi Army had been using the shrine, one of the holiest in Shiite Islam, as a hideout while they attacked U.S. and Iraqi forces here. Earlier Friday they offered to give control of the shrine to Shiite religious authorities, who accepted the offer in principle.

By nightfall, al-Sadr's followers remained in control of the shrine, but they were no longer bringing their weapons inside the walled compound of the holy site, according to an Associated Press reporter inside.

Many armed militiamen were still around the shrine, circulating in the Old City district, but as they entered the compound they left their guns with comrades outside, then reclaimed them as they exited. Inside the compound, unarmed fighters mingled with civilians.

The apparent pullback came a day after a massive government raid into the shrine — certain to cause bloodshed and infuriate Shiites across Iraq — seemed inevitable.

Iraqi interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi issued a "final call" Thursday to al-Sadr to disarm his followers and pull them from the shrine.

In other recent developments:

A Western journalist who had been kidnapped by militants and threatened with death if U.S. forces did not withdraw from the holy city of Najaf said his captors were treating him well, according to video broadcast on the pan-Arab station Al-Jazeera on Friday.

Two U.S. Marines were killed in action in Iraq's volatile Anbar province, the U.S. military said Friday.

One Marine assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force died of wounds received in action Wednesday, the military said in a statement. The second Marine was killed in action Thursday while conducting "security and stability operations" in Anbar, the statement said.

In Baghdad, troops from the U.S. Army's 1st Cavalry Division pulled out of the Sadr City slum, scene of fierce fighting the day before between U.S. forces and supporters of the rebel cleric. U.S. Capt. Brian O'Malley said soldiers "went all the way through the city and back" but pulled out Friday to respect the Muslim Sabbath.

In Fallujah, U.S. warplanes launched two airstrikes Friday on the troubled Iraqi city, considered a hotbed of Sunni Muslim insurgents. Two people were killed and six injured in the first attack just after midnight, said Dia'a al-Jumeili, a doctor at Fallujah's main hospital. A second warplane fired at least one missile into an industrial area of the city later Friday morning.

In a report that could be released as early as Friday, the U.S. Army investigation on inmate abuse at Abu Ghraib prison finds around two dozen people to blame but lets the top brass off the hook, reports CBS News' Charles D'Agata.

Explosions and gunfire rang throughout the city late Thursday and early Friday, killing 77 people and injured 70 others, the Health Ministry reported Friday afternoon.

But by Friday morning, the city was quiet, and Allawi stepped back from his government's threats to raid the mosque.

"We are not going to attack the mosque, we are not going to attack Muqtada al-Sadr and the mosque, evidently we are not going to do this," Allawi told BBC radio Friday. "We are not going to attack the shrines at all."

"We have extended the olive branch, the olive branch is still extended, he can take advantage of the olive branch," Allawi said. "We want a peaceful solution."

In a sermon read on his behalf in the nearby Kufa Mosque, al-Sadr said he wanted the religious authorities to take control of the Old City from his Mahdi Army, though he also called on all Muslims to rise up if the shrine is attacked.

"I call on the Arab and Islamic people: If you see the dome of the holy Imam Ali Shrine shelled, don't be lax in resisting the occupier in your countries," he said. It was unclear if al-Sadr was calling for worldwide attacks on U.S. forces — which he often refers to as Iraq's occupier.

With peace efforts continuing, Najaf appeared far more quiet late Friday morning than it has in weeks. U.S. tanks were on the streets, but residents reported seeing some of al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia pulling out of the Old City.

Still, U.S. forces said they were geared up for a fight.

"We are continuing to do planning and preparations for continuous offensive operations to get Mahdi militia destroyed, to capture Muqtada al-Sadr and to turn the holy shrine back to the Iraqi people," Lt. Col. Myles Miyamasu, of the 1st Cavalry Division, told CNN on Friday.

Explosions and gunbattles raged in Najaf all day Thursday, intensifying hours after U.S. forces bombed militant positions and Iraq's prime minister made a "final call" for the cleric's militia to surrender.

U.S. Marine Capt. Carrie Batson said U.S. warplanes had been "clearing Muqtada militia positions" east of the revered Imam Ali Shrine on Thursday night, when at least 30 explosions shook the Old City. Before dawn Friday, U.S. forces also fired precision-guided bombs at militiamen who were firing mortars at U.S. troops in the neighboring cemetery and Old City, Batson said.

Earlier Thursday, militants bombarded a Najaf police station with mortar rounds, killing seven police and injuring 35 others. Another round hit near the same station Friday, but inflicted no casualties.

Allawi had warned al-Sadr to disarm his forces and withdraw from the shrine after his government threatened to send a massive Iraqi force to root them out.