re: crunch time for sadr - update
Suspected United States AC-130 gunships have pounded positions held by Shiite militiamen in the Iraqi city of Najaf and multiple large orange flashes have lit the night sky.
A large cloud of smoke has been rising from an ancient cemetery where rebels loyal to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr have fought US troops for two weeks.
Armoured vehicles appeared to head to the battle zone around the shrine and the cemetery, where heavy machinegun fire was heard.
The explosions from the bombing, which went on for more than 30 minutes, were loudly heard several kilometres away.
A few hours before the bombing, the Iraqi Government gave Sadr a final warning to agree to its demands or face a major offensive.
"This is the final call for them to disarm, vacate the holy shrine, engage in political work and consider the interests of the homeland," interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said in Baghdad.
Sporadic clashes
But sporadic clashes between Sadr's Mehdi Army and US forces continued into the night in Najaf, where the cleric and some supporters were sheltered in the Imam Ali mosque.
Sadr had earlier reverted to his trademark defiance after two days in which he had appeared to be willing to disarm his militia and end his two-week-old stand in Iraq's holiest Shiite shrine.
Asked about Government demands, senior Sadr aide and Mehdi Army commaner Sheikh Ahmed al-Sheibani said: "It is very clear that we reject them."
In Baghdad, a mortar bomb hit the roof of the US embassy in the heavily fortified Green Zone, slightly wounding two American employees, an embassy spokesman said.
US warplanes have also bombed targets in the restive Sunni Muslim town of Fallujah west of Baghdad, witnesses say.
The US has bombed Fallujah almost daily over the past week. The city of 200,000 people is a hotbed of anti-US insurgents.
