US warplanes have bombed Najafj's cemetery and the historic center while US soldiers fought fierce battles on the ground with a Shiite militia in the town.

Witnesses said tanks approached within 250 meters of the Imam Ali Mosque, where many militants have sought refuge, the closest they have come to the compound in recent days. US snipers were on rooftops around the shrine, reported China Radio International.

Gunfire rang throughout the streets and black smoke rose over the Old City neighborhood, where much of the fighting has been centered. Reports said a hole one meter across was punched into the outer wall of the mosque compound, scattering debris across the marble floor. Supporters of Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr said it had been caused by a missile fired by a US helicopter. The US military denied it had targeted the mosque.

Sadr's whereabouts were unknown. Police in Najaf said they had information that he had fled to Sulaimaniya, in Kurdish northern Iraq. But Sadr's aides and local government officials in Sulaimaniya denied the report.

In Baghdad's Shiite Sadr City neighborhood, an explosion, apparently from a US air attack, killed four people and injured nine.

The US offensive began after a weekend of fruitless talks between Sadr's aides and religious authorities to hand over the keys of the mosque to Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, Iraq's most respected Shiite cleric.

Source: CRIENGLISH.com