US Marines storm Najaf to hunt Sadr militia

‘‘This government calls upon all the armed groups to drop their weapons and rejoin society. We call upon all the armed men to evacuate the holy shrine and not to violate its holiness,’’ Allawi said in a statement read by a senior official.

Oil prices hit new highs on the offensive, which the militia has warned could trigger more attacks on oil infrastructure.

Late in the afternoon, US warplanes bombed targets near Sadr’s house as Marines battled militiamen in the area. Black smoke billowed as combatants exchanged heavy fire. US forces stormed Sadr’s house just before nightfall. Marines also blocked entry to the Imam Ali Mosque.

In Kut, at least 72 people were killed in air raids and fighting between Iraqi police and the Mehdi Army on Thursday, the Health Ministry said. It said 25 people were killed in clashes in Baghdad and 21 in other cities in the past 24 hours. There were no immediate casualty figures from Najaf. Protests broke out in Baghdad and Basra after the start of the offensive.

Wary of igniting more anger, the US military said the assault would exclude the Imam Ali mosque. Government officials said only Iraqi forces would disarm militia inside.

But the Mehdi Army raised the prospect of a bloody battle, vowing no surrender and saying Sadr was leading the defence at the shrine and cemetery. The morale of the fighters is high,” said Ahmed al-Shibani, a Sadr spokesman in Najaf. Militiamen responded to the US assault in Najaf with rocket-propelled grenades and mortar bombs.

Iraq’s most influential Shi’ite cleric, Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, who is in London undergoing medical treatment, called for an immediate end to the fighting in his hometown, aide Hussein Shahristani said. ‘‘All efforts should be directed to finding a peaceful solution. A military solution will resolve nothing,’’ he said. —(Reuters)