Protected by 100 guards, Iraq's interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi made a short, unannounced visit to the war-shattered city of Najaf on Sunday, calling on activists to lay down their weapons after days of intense clashes with U.S. forces.
"We think that those armed should leave the holy sites and the (Imam Ali Shrine compound) as well as leave their weapons and abide by the law," Allawi said during a one-hour visit for talks with Najaf Gov. Adnan al-Zurufi.
The holy Shiite city south of Baghdad was ravaged by fierce fighting Thursday and Friday between U.S. forces and cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army members that left scores dead.
Allawi was surrounded by a security contingent that included U.S. forces, foreign security contractors, Iraqi National Guard troops and Iraqi police, about 100 people in all.
He was accompanied by Interior Minister Falah Hassan al-Naqib, Defense Minister Hazem Shaalan, and national security adviser, Mouwaffaq al-Rubaie.
The delegation did not meet with al-Sadr or any of his aides.
Allawi said there were no plans to arrest al-Sadr, but he said there would be no negotiations with him until al-Sadr's fighters laid down their arms. He expressed optimism the violence would cease.
"There are some elements who have broken the law and hurt this city," Allawi said. "The situation will be defused soon," he said, before returning to Baghdad.
Shortly after the delegation arrived at the governor's office, fighting erupted about one kilometer away between police and al-Sadr's forces. Gunfire and explosions could be heard, and U.S. helicopter gunships circled overhead.
In another development, the Iraqi government reinstated the death penalty for murderers and those threatening national security, an official spokesman said.
"It is here ready and signed, and on my desk," Gurgis Sada told AFP. "Yesterday we announced an amnesty. Today the death penalty. Choose one of them." The death penalty, which had been in force under the former regime of Saddam Hussein, was abolished by the previous US-led occupation authority.
In the meantime, Danish troops clashed with Shiite fighters in southern Iraq also Sunday in fighting that left at least two activists dead and seven injured, police said.
The fighting erupted late Saturday in Qurnah, located about 235 miles southeast of Baghdad, when a Danish patrol came under attack by activists loyal to al-Sadr, said Karim Sadkhan, a police colonel in the southern city of Basra.
Al-Sadr's fighters also clashed with police in Amarah, 110 miles southeast of Baghdad, in fighting that continued until dawn, police Lt. Haider Noori said.
Noori said one policeman was killed and four were wounded. Sheikh Majid al-Shami, a leader of one of al-Sadr's group in the town, said two of his fighters were killed and eight wounded. The Health Ministry said four people were killed in clashes there, but gave no breakdown. (Albawaba.com)
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
