Fighting, artillery barrage rocks Iraqi shrine in Najaf

US forces resumed raids late Monday on positions of Shiite radical leader Moqtada Sadr's militants in the central Iraqi holy city of Najaf.

US warplanes and ground artillery launched several strikes near the Imam Ali mosque, where Mehdi Army fighters of Sadr have holed up in defiance of the US-backed Iraqi interim government.

At least five loud blasts were heard near the area of a sprawling cemetery which adjoins the city's revered Imam Ali Shrine, witnesses said, adding that large plumes of smoke were seen rising from around the area earlier.

Heavy casualty in Najaf and calls for helps for citizens

Sporadic gunfights and mortar attacks continued in Najaf Monday as US tanks approached the shrine. US helicopters flew above the area and fired a missile into the outer western wall of the shrine compound, witnesses said.

Overnight, US helicopters opened fire against positions held by Shiite militiamen around the shrine. Gunshots and mortar rounds were also heard from inside the shrine compound before a brief US aerial bombardment over the Old City around midnight.

Violence continued Monday in seven other southern and central cities, including Baghdad. Hospital officials said four Iraqis had been killed in fighting in the Shiite slum district of Sadr City in Baghdad on Monday.

US planes and artillery pounded targets early Tuesday in Falluja, which the US military said sheltered supporters of Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, residents said.

Nine people were killed in a string of deadly roadside attacks across Iraq on Monday, the military said.

Three workers, two Iraqi and one Turkish citizen, were killed when anti-Iraqi forces attacked them as they were traveling to Kirkuk on Aug. 22, a military spokesman said.

By the motorway between Tikrit and the oil refinery town of Beiji, a Jordanian businessman was found stabbed to death along with two other men, presumed to be his bodyguards, police said.

In the main southern city of Basra, a police officer was shot dead by an nknown assailant, while further attacks in north Iraq left two other Iraqis dead.

In the northern oil center of Kirkuk, a member of one of the two main Kurdish parties, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, was also shot dead in his car Monday morning.

In another incident, a Kurdish truck driver was killed and two others wounded on the road from Kirkuk to Tikrit when their convoy was attacked.

The clashes are a challenge to Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, who took over from US-led occupation forces two months ago and faces the task of getting Iraq ready for elections in January.

Hopes for a peaceful solution flourished as talks were underway Saturday on the transfer of the Imam Ali mausoleum from the Mehdi Army loyal to Sadr to followers of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

Earlier, Sadr's militiamen have handed over the keys of the mausoleum to the representatives of Iraq's top Shiite cleric Sistani.

The hand-over of the keys mean that the Mehdi Army members would withdraw from the shrine and accept the solution put by a committee of the national conference that the Mehdi Army is dissolved and changed into a political entity.

But the transfer bogged down Saturday amid arguments among Shiite leaders over its implementation. Sadr aides said they tried to give the shrine's keys to Sistani's representatives, who refused to accept them.

Sheik Ali Smeisim, Sadr's chief lieutenant, said the militants

would not leave until a delegation from al-Sistani's office inspects the shrine to ensure its treasures are intact, so they could not be accused of taking anything.

Meanwhile, news that Iraq's crude exports were back to normal Monday for the first time in two weeks helped calm oil markets.

Exports had been sharply reduced by sabotage and threats from militants. Oil prices rose to nearly 50 dollars per barrel last week but have since eased.