15 August 2004	Sunday	28 Jamadi-us-Saani 1425

NAJAF, Aug 14: The Iraqi government was poised to resume a US-led offensive on Shia militia in the holy city of Najaf on Saturday, as aides of Shia leader Moqtada Sadr blamed the caretaker prime minister for the breakdown of truce talks.

"I am overcome with deep grief as I declare that the efforts being made to reach a peaceful solution to the crisis in Najaf have failed," national security adviser Muqafaq al-Rubaie told a news conference.

"My government thinks it is time for me to break off the negotiations and return to Baghdad... Yes, the military operations will start."

Thousands of Sadr supporters poured into the besieged pilgrimage city, where fighting paused for the two-day truce talks, to protest against the US-led assault, denounce Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and embrace Mehdi Army fighters.

Sadr has insisted that the US-led forces withdraw and responsibility for the city be handed over to the Shia religious leadership.

The fiery cleric told Al-Jazeera television that "the war on Najaf" had been launched because he had stood up for people's rights, demanded the restoration of services and refused to take part in a national conference opening Sunday.

"I will never take up any post so long as the occupation is there. There can be no politics under occupation, no freedom under occupation, no democracy under occupation," he said.

However, a spokesman said Sadr would accept a UN peacekeeping force. "There is a big difference between the blue helmets (of UN troops) and the occupation troops," Sheikh Ahmed al-Shaibani said.

Najaf's old city remains under Mehdi Army control. "The Iraqi government will be responsible for the coming massacre in Najaf. Tanks and convoys are preparing to attack the city in the coming hours," said Sadr spokesman, Sheikh Qais al-Khazali.

Fellow Sadr aide Ali Smeisim accused Allawi of torpedoing peace efforts, although Rubaie said a "small group" blocked him meeting directly with Sadr.

Late Friday, the cleric, who was lightly wounded while inspecting militia units, gave a rallying cry to his fighters at the Imam Ali shrine.

"Maybe this truce is a trick, so I want you to keep to your jihad," Shaibani said on behalf of Sadr, addressing himself to the nation.

ASSAULT: Meanwhile, US forces continued their assault on Sunni insurgents, as warplanes bombed "known enemy locations" around Samarra, north of Baghdad, in an overnight air and land assault that the military said killed 50.

There was no independent confirmation of the death toll given by US commanders. Samarra's main hospital reported 25 dead and 86 wounded from the fighting, many of them women and children.

More than 40 homes, the municipal building and the political party offices of Interior Minister Falah al-Naqib were destroyed. Police said their headquarters were badly damaged and three of their comrades killed.

South of Baghdad, 14 people were killed and 37 others wounded in fierce gun battles in Hilla between the Mehdi Army and Polish-backed Iraqi police, the health ministry said.

Fighters attacked police stations and government buildings. Police chief General Qais Hamza Aboud said 49 militiamen and three policemen were killed.

Seventy Poles, trapped inside a police station during the fighting, returned to their base Saturday, the Polish military said.

In the troubled western province of Al-Anbar, two US soldiers were killed, bringing to 694 the number of US troops who have died in action since the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, based on Pentagon statistics.

Three Iraqis were also killed in clashes between US troops and insurgents in the restive Sunni city of Ramadi, west of Baghdad, medics said.

In nearby Fallujah, the US military bombed suspected insurgent positions after marines were attacked, it said.

In the north, police reported a Syrian truckdriver kidnapped and said one civilian was killed when US forces opened fire after their convoy was attacked.

An eight-hour curfew was to be imposed on Baghdad during Sunday's national conference, where 1,300 delegates are to appoint an interim legislative body.

OIL: The prospect of resumed fighting was counterbalanced by the resumption of northern Iraqi crude exports to Turkey. Exports have already been strangled by the shutdown of a key southern pipeline over security concerns.

Pumping resumed to the port of Ceyhan at levels not seen for the past year due to repeated sabotage, an official from the state-owned Northern Oil Company said.

"Pumping resumed this morning from the oilfields in Kirkuk to Ceyhan at the rate of 600,000 to 800,000 barrels per day," an official told AFP.

Crude exports from the south's two main offshore terminals have been slashed in half for several days, costing the country millions of dollars in lost revenue and helping to send world oil prices to record levels.-AFP