NAJAF, April 27: Washington's forces claimed killing 64 Iraqi fighters at Kufa on Monday night, hours after issuing an ultimatum to a radical Shia leader to clear his militia from mosques in Najaf.
In Fallujah, fierce gun battles broke out when US aircraft and tanks blasted targets hours after an American deadline expired for guerillas to hand over their heavy weapons, said witnesses, the US marines and a CNN pool reporter.
Officials claimed airborne gunships wiped out 57 guerillas in Kufa in a single assault against a lone anti-aircraft gun spotted during clashes on the ground. It was the bloodiest encounter since firebrand preacher Moqtada al Sadr and his Mehdi Army militia launched a resistance against the occupation forces three weeks ago.
In all, US troops killed 64 fighters in clashes on Monday near Kufa, 10km from Najaf, Brig Gen Mark Kimmitt said at a news conference in Baghdad. Locals said aircraft had destroyed a militia checkpoint. Brig Kimmitt said guerillas fired rocket-propelled grenades at a tank.
Staff at two hospitals counted at least 23 dead and 34 wounded. Some of the casualties did not appear to be guerillas. At the funerals of five people killed, mourners chanted "Long live Sadr!" and slogans against the United States and its allies on Iraq's interim Governing Council.
"The clashes ... are a provocation, but the red line has still not yet been crossed," Qais al Khazaali, a Mehdi Army spokesman said while talking to the Al Jazeera network. "To enter Najaf means to pour scorn on the holy places. But we are ready, we are organized and we are coordinated."
Adding to the US burden, Spanish troops quit Najaf as part of a withdrawal ordered by the new government in Madrid, where opposition to the occupation runs high.
FALLUJAH: "Anti-Iraq forces attacked marines in defensive positions in Fallujah shortly after 10:00pm (1800 GMT) tonight, again violating the current ceasefire," the 1st Marine Division said in a statement.
"Marines responded by directing precision weaponry against the enemy forces in order to defend themselves." An AC-130 gunship aircraft fired multiple cannon rounds on two suspected guerilla positions and arms depots in the northwest part of the city, according to the CNN reporter.
He said the gunship fired 20 to 25 rounds at a time with "explosions on the ground sending showers of sparks and flames into the night sky". He said the shelling came a day after heavy fighting with guerillas in the same area that saw one US marine killed and at least nine others wounded.
Earlier, US aircraft and tanks blasted targets in Fallujah, witnesses said. "The earth is shaking under my feet," one witness told Reuters as live television pictures showed two large fires some 150 metres apart.
A US spokeswoman declined comment on what triggered the fighting in Fallujah, which lasted about 30 minutes, or what the American target was in the city of 300,000 people. Local doctors say hundreds of people have been killed in the Marine siege of the town which began on April 5 following the murder and mutilation of four American contractors there.
Making clear Washington was in no hurry to launch an all-out assault on Fallujah, Brig Kimmitt said he was not sure any weapons were turned over, but added negotiations were "going well" and there were still plans for US troops to enter the town. US commanders say they face up to 2,000 fighters in Fallujah - some of whom they term diehard Saddam loyalists, and maybe about 200 foreign radicals. -Reuters/AFP
