The fate of a radical Shia rebellion in the holy city of Najaf was uncertain today amid disputed reports that Iraqi police had gained control of the Imam Ali Mosque.
Witnesses said that by late afternoon, civilians were wandering around inside Iraq's holiest Shi'ite site while workers swept marble floors. There were no police or armed men from the Mehdi Army of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in sight.
Amid the extraordinary confusion over a two-week rebellion that has killed hundreds and driven world oil prices to record highs, the United States military said it could not confirm the government had won back the shrine peacefully.
A senior Interior Ministry spokesman said police entered the shrine and arrested hundreds of militiamen.
Any bloodless seizure of the mosque would be a major political victory for interim Prime Minister Mr Iyad Allawi, who since taking over from US occupiers on June 28th has struggled to stem an insurgency and now a Shia revolt in eight cities.
But soon after the seizure was announced, a senior Sadr aide said the statement was untrue.
"The shrine is in the control of the Mehdi Army," said Sheikh Ahmad al-Sheibani, a top militia commander. "The Mehdi Army will resist any attempt by the Iraqi police to control the shrine."
"Procedures are under way to hand over control of the shrine to Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani," he added, referring to Iraq's most influential Shi'ite cleric.
Iraqi police in Najaf told CNN they did not control the Imam Ali Mosque, the broadcaster reported today.
And US Rear Admiral Greg Slavonic said he could not confirm the Najaf mosque was in government hands. He added there were rumours Sadr had fled but his whereabouts were unknown.
"We have no confirmation or intelligence on where he may be," Admiral Slavonic said.
At least 77 Iraqis were killed and around 70 wounded in ferocious US air strikes and heavy fighting in the previous 24 hours in the southern city, health officials said.
The uprising helped drive world oil prices to new record highs, with U.S. crude hitting more than $49 a barrel today.
Insurgents in Iraq have waged a campaign of kidnapping aimed at driving out individuals, companies and troops supporting US forces and the new Baghdad administration.
An Islamist group has seized 12 Nepali workers because of their cooperation with US forces, an statement issued on the Internet said today.
The Interior Ministry spokesman, Mr Sabah Kadhim, appealed to Sadr, now the face of resistance to US and Iraqi authorities, to turn himself in.
"The Iraqi police are now in control of the shrine, along with the religious authorities," he said.
Mr Kadhim said Sadr might have escaped overnight. He urged him to surrender so he might be covered by an amnesty Mr Allawi has offered to some of those opposing his government.
Iraqi national security adviser Mr Mowaffaq al-Rubaie told CNN he was unable to clear up the confusion, saying communications between Najaf and Baghdad were difficult.
Mr Kadhim said the interim government had all along wanted its security forces, accompanied by religious authorities, to enter the shrine peacefully to defuse the crisis.
Mr Allawi had pledged his forces would not storm the site.
"We are not going to attack the mosque, we are not going to attack Moqtada al-Sadr in the mosque," Mr Allawi earlier told BBC radio, adding Sadr's militia had wired it up with explosives.
Sadr's offer to hand over control of the shrine to Shi'ite religious authorities and Mr Allawi's conciliatory statement followed the most intense US bombardment of Mehdi positions since the conflict erupted.