Hundreds feared dead as mortar hits Iraqi mosque
- U.S. planes bomb rebels' forte
HUNDREDS of supporters of Iraqi rebel cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr, were feared killed or wounded yesterday in a mortar attack on the main Mosque of Kufa.
A photo-journalist at Kufa's hospital reported that many casualties were being brought in amidst screams of men and siren.
The United States (U.S.) military had not made any comment as at press time.
Meanwhile, Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, was heading for Najaf to try to persuade Sadr's Mehdi Army militia to leave a shrine where they were holed-up and end fighting that has killed hundreds.
Kufa lies adjacent to Najaf, and is a key Sadr's power base.
Sadr's followers had gathered at the mosque and planned to march on Najaf. His supporters blamed U.S.-led forces for the attack.
Sistani left the southern city of Basra in a huge convoy of some 50 police cars and 10 British military vehicles yesterday morning, witnesses said.
Hundreds of cars driven by his supporters joined the trip, which will take several hours.
He will unveil a plan in Najaf to get the Mehdi militia out of the Imam Ali mosque and call on U.S. marines encircling Iraq's holiest Shi'ite shrine to leave the city, his aides said.
The reclusive 73-year-old Sistani has also called for his supporters to march on Najaf to help end fighting between the rebels and U.S. forces that has crept closer to the shrine.
But amid fears of violence with rival Sadr's supporters, he urged his followers converging on Najaf to wait outside the city and get instructions when he arrived, a senior aide said.
"On his arrival, a peace initiative will be launched," Hamed al-Khafaf told Reuters.
Overnight, U.S. warplanes unleashed a fierce attack on rebel targets in Najaf. The air strikes shook Najaf just after U.S. artillery fire and cannon assaults from an AC-130 gun-ship rattled the city, which has a peacetime population of 500,000 about 160 km (100 miles) South of Baghdad.
Heavy shooting and mortar bomb attacks also erupted near the shrine yesterday, a reporter said.
Sistani left Iraq for medical treatment in London just as the Najaf uprising began three weeks ago. Dressed in a black robe and turban, with a flowing white heard and dark rings around his eyes, Sistani made a dramatic return on Wednesday, arriving from Kuwait and spending the night in Basra.
His followers say the cleric's intervention could break the deadlock in Najaf and ensure a peaceful resolution to a conflict that has driven world oil prices to record highs and undermined the authority of interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.
But Sadr, who has challenged the collegiate leadership of the Najaf clergy headed by Sistani and styled himself the face of anti-U.S. Shi'ite resistance, has also called on his supporters to march on Najaf.
Such an influx of large numbers of Shi'ites from rival groups could inflame tensions and worsen the violence.
Thousands of Iraqis began gathering in Shi'ite areas overnight to begin the journey to Najaf. Witnesses said two Shi'ite marchers were killed west of the city on Wednesday evening when police opened fire on a crowd.
Only aged about 30, Sadr has proven to be a stubborn foe of Iraq's U.S.-backed government.
U.S. firepower has failed to get his rebels out of the mosque so have threats and peace offerings from Allawi, who has faced multiple challenges barely two months after he took over power from U.S.-led occupiers.
That leaves the Iranian-born Sistani, the most powerful voice of moderation in the tormented country.
He commands enormous respect, even from Sadr's supporters. Sadr's spokesmen were quick to make conciliatory statements when Sistani returned on Wednesday. The whereabouts of the upstart cleric himself, however, remain a mystery.
Sistani also played a role in ending a similar uprising from the Mehdi militia in April and May.
The other points of Sistani's initiative will be for the city to be free of weapons and for police to take charge of security, aides said.
