‘Valley of Peace’ turns into killing field

By Sam Dagher - NAJAF, Iraq

One of the world's oldest and biggest cemeteries in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf has become a killing field in the clashes between US troops and Mehdi Army militia loyal to radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr.

An entire section of the cemetery's outer wall has been blown away in the nightly shelling by US tanks of militia positions inside.

Tombstones in this sacred graveyard known throughout history as the Valley of Peace have been reduced to heaps of rubble.

In one part of the vast cemetery close to the city centre, shells have punctured big holes in family mausoleums that have been stained with the blood of fighters.

Slippers and the hallmark black headscarves of the Shiite militiamen are strewn on the ground nearby.

At least 13 Iraqis, including four militiamen, were killed and 33 wounded in fierce clashes around the cemetery early Wednesday, medics and militia commanders said.

But there were unconfirmed reports going around Najaf that the militia might have lost more than 40 fighters in the cemetery battle and US commanders spoke of "very large number" of militia dead.

The coalition's deputy director of operations, Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, declined to put a figure on the death toll at a Baghdad press conference, saying only that it was fewer than 70.

"An area of 500 square metres in the cemetery has become a true slaughter house for both the living and dead," said Sadr aide Sheikh Qais al-Khazali.

"We have some evidence that the weapons used last night to shell the cemetery area are forbidden internationally."

Khazali refused to provide further details but invited independent experts to come to Najaf to inspect the evidence for themselves.

Black-clad members of Sadr's Mehdi Army militia have been using the cemetery for more than a month now as a launching pad for attacks with mortars and rocket propelled grenades on US tanks and soldiers stationed off the nearby 1920 Revolution Square.

Some padlocked family mausoleums have also been broken into and are being used as shelters for the fighters or to store weapons.

US tanks have previously entered the northern extremities of the cemetery in an effort to flush out the militiamen.

For Shiites from around the world, it is a great honour to be buried in Najaf, where the revered Imam Ali, cousin of the Prophet Mohammed, is also buried.

His tomb, which is about 100 meters (yards) from one of the cemetery's main entrances, is housed in a splendid golden-domed mausoleum that also includes a mosque and is considered one of the holiest sites for Shiites.

A mortar round exploded inside the mausoleum Tuesday, wounding 10 people and damaging the upper part of one of the main gold-covered gates leading to the tomb of the revered imam.

"We have definitive proof that the mortar used yesterday to shell the Imam Ali shrine was American and we invite independent experts to come to Najaf to examine the proof," said Khazali.

"God has intervened to uncover the lies of the Americans, who always attack Iraqis and their sanctities and then proclaim innocence as they did recently when they attacked a wedding party saying it was a hideout for foreign terrorists."

The US military has denied playing any part in the damage to the shrine, saying it might have been Sadr's militia itself that did it in order to fan anti-US sentiment among Shiites.

Scores of people have been killed in weeks of deadly clashes between coalition troops and Sadr's Mehdi Army in Najaf and other cities across central and southern Iraq.

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