US, Iraqi Forces Prepare Major Attack on Najaf Insurgents

By Laurie Kassman

U.S. and Iraqi forces say they are preparing a major assault against insurgents 1 loyal to radical 2 Shi'ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in the holy Shi'ite city of Najaf after a week of bloody 3 clashes. Iranian journalists have been detained in Baghdad. And Iraqi politician Ahmad Chalabi returns home to defend himself against charges of financial misdeeds.
     
Radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has urged his supporters to keep fighting as U.S. and Iraqi forces prepare a major attack to oust 4 the so-called Mahdi Army from the holy city of Najaf.

Najaf's police chief says several key figures in the al-Sadr militia 5 have been arrested and are being interrogated 6.

The violence has taken its toll 7 on Najaf. Residents are calling for and end to the bloodshed. They are also complaining about the presence of foreign troops in the holy city.

That sentiment was echoed by interim 8 Vice 9 President Ibrahim al-Jaafari who has called on foreign troops to leave Najaf and let Iraqi forces handle the job.

U.S. forces are also battling Mahdi Army fighters in a predominantly Shi'ite slum in Baghdad.

Iraq's top Shi'ite Muslim cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani will not require heart surgery after all, according to a statement issued by his office in Najaf on Wednesday. The cleric, an influential 10 voice of moderation among Iraq's Shi'ite majority, flew to London for medical treatment last Friday, a day after fighting broke out in Najaf between U.S.-led forces and al-Sadr insurgents. Ayatollah Sistani has carefully distanced himself from the radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

A regional leader of Iraq's largest Shi'ite political party, the Supreme 11 Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, was shot dead in a drive-by shooting south of Baghdad.

In political developments, former Governing Council member Ahmad Chalabi returns home from a business trip to Iran in order to fight counterfeiting 12 charges brought against him by an Iraqi judge.

And, in Washington, Mr. Chalabi's daughter Tamara told a news conference her father is filing a civil suit against Jordan, which he blames for sullying his reputation. Mr. Chalabi was convicted in absentia in 1992 and sentenced to more than 20 years in jail for bank fraud. A charge he had denied.

"He has been accused in the past of stealing from his own bank, of alerting Saddam Hussein to a coup 13 attempt, of stealing cars belonging to the interim Iraqi government, to passing U.S. secrets to Iran and now to counterfeiting Iraqi currency. All of these charges are false," she said. "All of these charges come from the Jordanian government who has never forgiven my father for exposing their secret and illegal arms which is for Saddam."

In other news, several journalists working for Iran's state news agency, IRNA, have been detained in Baghdad. No reason for the arrest has been given.

Laurie Kassman, VOA News, Washington.

注释：
assault 袭击
radical 激进的
Shi'ite 什叶派
cleric 牧师
Najaf 纳贾夫（伊斯兰教什叶派圣地）
Iranian 伊朗的
detain 拘留
misdeed 罪行
oust 驱逐
interrogate 审问
presence 参加，在场
interim 临时的
the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq 伊拉克伊斯兰革命最高委员会
counterfeiting 伪造
sully 玷污
convict 宣告……有罪
fraud 欺骗
Jordanian 约旦的，约旦