US bases in Najaf is being attacked as clashes resumed between US-led coalition troops and the militia of radical Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr on Friday, CNN reported.

Witnesses said loud explosions and gunfire echoed through the Shiite holy city and thick black smoke filled the sky. The smoke was seen rising from over the downtown 1920 Revolution Square, some two kilometers from the Imam Ali mausoleum in the city centre, they added.

No report about any casualty is available yet.

Earlier, an al-Jazeera cameraman and 8 other civilians were killed in overnight clashes between US troops and Shiite militiamen in another Iraqi holy city of Karbala, local medics said Friday.

Hamid Rashid Wali, an Iraqi working for the Qatar-based pan-Arabsatellite television station al-Jazeera was killed at 1:30 am (2130GMT) by sniper fire, said Doctor Ali Aradawi at a Karbala hospital.

Eight other civilians were killed and 10 wounded during the overnight violence that rocked the city near the shrines of Imam Hussein and Imam Abbas, two of the most sacred spots in the world for Shiite Muslims, he added.

US-led coalition forces have been locked in furious clashes with Sadr's militiamen since the popular leader began an uprising across central and southern Iraq last month.

Source: Xinhua