IRAQ: Iraq's Prime Minister, Mr Iyad Allawi, last night issued a "final call" for the Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to disarm his fighters and leave Najaf's mosque, or face the prospect of a devastating final assault.
Using blunt language, Mr Allawi said the radical Shia cleric had to accept the government's demands personally and in writing to end the fighting in Najaf. "This is the final call for them to disarm, vacate the holy shrine, engage in political work and consider the interests of the homeland," he said.
But as US aircraft and tanks repeatedly pounded the area around the Imam Ali shrine, Mr Allawi refused to say how long Mr al-Sadr had got. "It is an ultimatum and not a deadline."
Hours earlier it had seemed that the final military assault on the shrine where the cleric and his supporters are holed up was already under way. Dozens of explosions shook the area and automatic gunfire crackled through the air.
Six US armoured personnel carriers could be seen inside the perimeters of the old city, a few hundred metres from the shrine. The streets leading to it were packed with al-Mahdi fighters armed with rocket-propelled grenades, and AK 47 and sniper rifles.
Iraq's defence minister, Mr Hazem Shalan, said yesterday's military action in Najaf was merely a "clean-up operation" on the fringe of the old city. Earlier, he had suggested the final offensive was just "hours" away.
Speaking in Baghdad Mr Allawi made it clear he had not given the order for Iraqi government forces, assisted by huge US firepower, to storm the shrine - a move that will inevitably provoke outrage, not only in Shia-dominated Iraq but across the Arab world. "I have not issued orders to attack the mosque. If anything happens to the shrine, it will be the fault of the militia," he said.
The standoff has plunged Iraq's interim government into its worst crisis so far.
Yesterday Mr al-Sadr reverted to his trademark defiance, a day after he apparently agreed to a demand from Iraq's national conference to give up fighting and enter mainstream politics. On Tuesday he refused to meet a delegation from the conference that travelled to meet him.
Asked about the government's latest demands, Sheikh Ahmed al-Sheibani, a senior al-Sadr aide and al-Mahdi army commander, said: "It is very clear that we reject them." Away from the shrine, the al-Mahdi militia also showed few signs of giving up. At least seven police were killed and 21 injured yesterday after three mortar bombs landed on a Najaf police station.
While Iraq's government has run out of patience with the cleric, Mr Allawi did not rule out further negotiations. He said the delegation was prepared to go back to Najaf, provided the cleric "publicly and personally" agreed to their conditions.