FROM LONDON, IRAQ'S TOP SHIITE CLERIC ALSO CALLED FOR AN END TO THE FIGHTING IN THE HOLY CITY.

From London, Iraq's top Shiite cleric also called for an end to the fighting in the holy city.
NAJAF, Iraq (AP) -- Thousands of U.S. and Iraqi soldiers launched a major assault on militiamen loyal to a radical Shiite cleric today, with explosions and gunfire echoing near Najaf's revered Imam Ali shrine and its vast cemetery. Shooting also was reported near the rebel leader's home as huge plumes of smoke rose from the city.
Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi called today on the Shiite militants to put down their weapons and leave the shrine, where they have sought refuge.
"These places have never been exposed to such violations in the past," he said, adding that the violence has killed many innocent people.
"Our government calls upon all the armed groups to drop their weapons and return to society. We also call upon all the armed men to evacuate the holy shrine and not to violate its holiness."
Coalition forces were trying to crush an uprising led by cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose fighters have been battling U.S. troops and Iraqi government forces in Najaf and other Shiite strongholds across the country for a week.
"Major operations to destroy the militia have begun," said Maj. David Holahan, executive officer of the 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment.
Thousands of U.S. troops were participating, he said.
Under U.S. military rules for embedded journalists, reporters are not allowed to reveal exact numbers of U.S. troops, details of planned offensives or other information considered relevant to operational security.
Iraqi National Security Adviser Mouwaffaq al-Rubaie went to Najaf to deal with the situation, his office said. It was unclear what his mission entailed or whether he would negotiate with al-Sadr.
Fighting near home
U.S. military humvees moved toward al-Sadr's house and fought with militants guarding the building, witnesses said. A large fire raged across the street and at least two helicopters flew above the area. U.S. officials said in recent days they had no plans to arrest al-Sadr.
A column of U.S. tanks lined one edge of the huge cemetery sprawling out from the Imam Ali mosque as a helicopter flew overhead. Soldiers crawled on the roofs of single-story buildings to fire at militants.
"It's pretty standard: They'd push up here, fire off a few rounds, fire RPGs, then leave," Capt. Patrick McFall said of the insurgents.
By afternoon, five civilians had been killed, said Nabil Mohammed, a health worker in Najaf. Two soldiers were wounded by a mortar shell while standing in an intersection on the cemetery's edge, the military said.
Meanwhile, fighting between al-Sadr supporters and coalition forces killed at least 72 Iraqis in the southern city of Kut on Wednesday in one of the most intense battles in that city in months. Iraqi forces fought off militants who attacked the city hall, police stations and Iraqi National Guard barracks, the U.S. military said.
Residents in Kut, 100 miles southeast of Baghdad, said U.S. and Iraqi troops fought the militants. The U.S. military said only Iraqi forces were involved.
Violence across Iraq since Wednesday morning killed at least 172 Iraqis and injured 643, the Health Ministry said.
Governments and others across the Muslim world called for a halt to fighting in Najaf. Egypt urged the coalition to rely on dialogue instead of force, and Iran's Foreign Ministry said the international community should intervene to "prevent the massacre of defenseless Iraqi people."
Call from grand ayatollah
Iraq's top Shiite Muslim cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who left Najaf for London to undergo medical treatment when the fighting began a week ago, expressed "deep sorrow and great worry" and called on all sides to resolve the crisis as soon as possible and prevent it from repeating.
Al-Sistani said in a statement that his office was "continuing to exert efforts with all sides, Iraqi officials and others, to put a quick end to the current tragic situation."
Lebanon's most senior Shiite Muslim cleric, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, criticized Iraq's interim government for allowing the offensive in a city that is holy to the world's 120 million Shiites.
The fighting in Najaf risks enraging Iraq's Shiite majority -- including those who do not support al-Sadr's uprising -- if it targets the shrine.
U.S. commanders and Iraqi officials said Allawi would have to approve any operation at the shrine itself and any move at the shrine would be conducted only by Iraqi forces.
"There are instructions that the Iraqi forces and the Iraqi National Guard only will enter the compound and secure it, so ordinary citizens can go back and pray at this shrine," Interior Ministry spokesman Sabah Kadhim said.
Nearly 5,000 al-Sadr sympathizers took to the streets in the southern city of Basra today demanding that U.S. troops withdraw from Najaf and condemning Allawi for working with the Americans.
Al-Sadr loyalists in Basra threatened Wednesday to blow up the oil pipelines and port infrastructure there if an offensive was launched. A similar threat Monday caused oil officials to briefly stop pumping from the southern oil wells.
Allawi said the ongoing violence has cost the country $60 million in recent days.
Interior Minister Falah Hassan al-Naqib called the militants' actions a "conspiracy against the Iraqi people."
"This is a war on Iraq, aiming for the destruction of Iraq," he said. "These groups are trying to destroy the people."
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