US tanks advanced to within 800 yards of the Imam Ali mosque in the Iraqi city of Najaf yesterday after talks on surrendering control of the shrine at the center of an 18-day siege ran into trouble.

Hours earlier, a US military AC-130 gunship unleashed rapid cannon and howitzer fire on positions held by rebels loyal to firebrand cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who remain in control of the gold-domed shrine in defiance of the Iraqi government.

North of Baghdad, a suicide car bomb blew up near a convoy carrying Iraqi officials near the town of Baquba, killing two people and wounding eight, a police officer said. The US operation in Najaf came as negotiators tried to end a Shi’ite Muslim rebellion led by Sadr’s Mehdi fighters that has helped push world oil prices to record highs. Mehdi rebels fired mortars at US positions and the sound of gunfire crackled from near the shrine inside the old city, where the situation remained tense, a witness said. The attacks on Najaf overnight lit the area with white flashes. Smoke drifted over the old city near rebel positions, and flashes were seen.

Despite an offer by Sadr to hand the shrine over to the Shi’ite cleric establishment, radical militiamen remained defiantly in control of the compound and the warren of streets leading to it. The uprising, which has killed hundreds and touched off clashes in seven other cities, is a challenge to the authority of the interim government of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, who took over from US-led occupiers two months ago.

Any takeover of the mosque by security forces could infuriate Iraq’s majority Shi’ite population and further destabilize the country ahead of elections in January. The mosque is the holiest Shi’ite shrine in Iraq.

Deputy mayor targeted

The car bomber near Baquba, a hotbed of anti-US resistance, seemed to have been targeting Ghasan al-Ghadren, the town’s deputy mayor, police said. The official was slightly wounded, the health ministry said.

Seeking a way out of the stand-off in Najaf, talks between Sadr’s representatives and Iraq’s top Shi’ite authorities were continuing with a view to handing the shrine over to the control of Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, a top Sadr aide said. Sistani, Iraq’s most influential Shi’ite cleric, is in London recovering from surgery.

But the aide, Ali Smeisim, said the talks had hit a snag over a request by Sadr’s side that Sistani send a delegation to take an inventory of precious items in the mosque – thought to include jewelry, relics and carpets – to head off any claim that Sadr’s men had stolen anything from the shrine. “We were told by people in Sayyed Sistani’s office that they cannot form the committee in the current circumstances. We told them that Sayyed Sistani has representatives in Najaf ... and we believe a committee can be formed,” Smeisim told reporters.

Sadr’s aides had earlier said that his militia would continue to guard the mosque after any handover, defying calls from Allawi to disband and vacate it. A Sistani spokesman in London told Al Arabiya television “no specific time has been set” for a handover of the mosque’s keys.

Nine Iraqis were killed and 27 others were injured in fighting in Najaf in the last 24 hours as of yesterday morning, the health ministry said. In Baghdad, one Iraqi was killed and 20 others were wounded. 

In Paris, the French Foreign Ministry said two French journalists, George Malbrunot of Le Figaro and Christian Chesnot of Radio France International, were missing in Iraq and had not been heard from since Thursday. The Italian government said freelance Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni, who had been working in Najaf, had been missing since Thursday and his driver had reportedly been killed.

Sadr’s uprising has fueled fears of disruption to Iraqi oil production and has helped push crude prices to new highs.

Michael GEORGY

UNSCHEDULED VISIT

Polish minister flies to Iraq after Polish deaths

■ Polish Defence Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski made an unscheduled visit to troops in Iraq yesterday, affirming Poland’s determination to maintain its role in the stabilisation of Iraq. Three Polish soldiers have died in attacks since Thursday, bringing the number of Polish fatalities to 14 since Poland took charge of the 8 000-strong multinational force in Shi’ite dominated south-central Iraq in september. Last weekend a group of several dozen Polish soldiers emerged unscathed from a stand-off with supporters of rebel Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr when they were surrounded after going to the aid of an Iraqi police post in the town of Hilla. “It is our duty to ensure that his death was not for nothing. That we will continue to act,” Szmajdzinski said earlier at a mass for a soldier killed in a convoy ambush on Saturday. A majority of Poles are opposed to the country’s presence in Iraq and Szmajdzinski repeated promises a fourth contingent of troops, due to arrive in Iraq early next year, would be smaller than the current 2 500-strong force. “Like most of our allies, we are determined to carry out our mission here to the end, with a substantial reduction in troops in future contingents.”