NAJAF, Iraq --Iraq's most sacred Shiite shrine was slightly damaged for a second time and at least 13 Iraqis were killed in fighting yesterday between American forces and militiamen loyal to a radical cleric. The U.S. military denied accusations by the cleric's supporters that coalition forces shelled the shrine.
In Baghdad, a suicide attacker detonated a car bomb that wounded at least five Iraqis, including a 10-year-old boy, U.S. military officials said. Police said they believed the bomb may have targeted the nearby Australian Embassy and detonated prematurely. Australia has some 850 military personnel in and around Iraq.
Later yesterday, insurgents fired rockets from an apartment house toward a police station in Baghdad, triggering explosions and wounding one American soldier, witnesses and officials said.
After fighting in Najaf eased, crowds loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr gathered at the Imam Ali shrine to look at the damage. The inner gate of the shrine, leading into the tomb of Imam Ali Ibn Abu Talib, appeared to have been hit by a projectile. Debris was scattered on the ground.
A veil covering the gate was ripped apart, and parts of the wall were damaged. Bits of mortar and parts of a projectile were scattered on the courtyard floor.
Another projectile landed outside the shrine, about 10 yards from the outer wall. Three militiamen were wounded in that attack, and three fighters were killed in fighting in the city, al-Sadr's office said. Supporters of al-Sadr accused the Americans of firing mortars at the shrine.
Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, deputy chief of operations, denied that U.S. forces shelled the shrine. He said the Americans were uncertain whether the damage was caused by exchanges of fire between rival Shiite groups or whether al-Sadr's fighters targeted the compound to try to provoke outrage so they could blame it on the coalition forces.
The Kuwaiti representative of Iraq's most powerful Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, accused al-Sadr's militia of deliberately attacking the shrine to agitate world opinion against the coalition.
Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer al-Mehri said in a statement that the militia fired a mortar shell at the dome of the shrine but hit a wall instead.
Al-Sistani, who is more popular among Iraq's Shiite majority than al-Sadr, has long shunned the younger cleric. Al-Sadr has gained support among Shiites through his defiance of the U.S. occupation, and al-Sistani has refrained from criticizing the young cleric openly.
Explosions and gunfire were heard yesterday around Najaf's Revolution of 1920 Square and the cemetery, a warren of paths and tombs offering many hiding places for militiamen armed with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.
Eight people were killed and 18 injured in the fighting in Najaf, said Seyed Kifah Shemal, an official at Hakim General Hospital. Two people died and 14 were injured overnight in Kufa, said Riyadh Kadhem, a nurse at the Forat al-Awsat hospital there. They said the casualties were mostly civilians.
There were no reports of U.S. casualties.
It was the second time the Imam Ali shrine has suffered minor damage. On May 14, machine-gun fire struck the golden dome, leaving four small holes. Each side blamed the other.
Imam Ali was the Prophet Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law, and he is the most revered saint among Shiite Muslims. Fighting in Najaf and other Shiite shrine cities south of Baghdad has raised alarm among Shiite Muslims throughout the world who fear damage to the sacred sites.
U.S. officials say they have been careful to avoid damaging the shrines and have accused al-Sadr of using holy places to store weapons and to seek sanctuary. The young cleric launched his uprising in early April after the Americans began to crack down on him, first closing his newspaper, then arresting a top aide and finally announcing an arrest warrant charging him in the April 2003 murder of a moderate cleric.
The crackdown triggered unrest in Shiite neighborhoods of Baghdad and in the formerly peaceful Shiite south, including fighting in Basra, Amarah, Nasiriyah and in the holy cities of Kufa, Najaf and Karbala.
U.S. officials had hoped to rein in al-Sadr before the transfer of sovereignty to a new Iraqi government June 30. In a speech Monday, President Bush said the United States would stay in Iraq until it was democratic. The United States and Britain also presented a long-awaited blueprint for a post-occupation Iraqi government.
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The Associated Press
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Iraqi Shiite clerics inspect the damage after one of the most sacred shrines of Shia Islam suffered damage during clashes between U.S. forces and Shiite militiamen yesterday. The inner gate of the shrine, leading into the tomb of Imam Ali Ibn Abu Talib, w
