US troops not to attack holy sites in Iraq, says spokesman

A senior US official said here on Thursday that American troops had no plan to attack the holy shrine in Iraq.

"We are not going against any Muslim sites...We're not goingafter Muslim sites. That's not the way we do business." deputyState Department spokesman Adam Ereli told a news briefing.Ereli made the remarks when thousands of US forces, backed byIraqi police and national guard, were launching offensives againstShiite militiamen loyal to radical cleric Moqtada Sadr in the holycity Najaf.

Najaf, 100 miles south of Baghdad, is an Islamic holy city, andhome to the shrine of Imam Ali, son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed.It was reported that the militiamen, still in control of thearea around the shrine, vowed to fight until the bitter end whileIraqi officials in Baghdad demanded the militiamen leave theshrine.

Iraqi Defense Minister Hazem al-Shalan pledged US forces wouldnot be allowed to enter the sacred mausoleum.

Source: Xinhua