Marines Surround Sadr

Developing Story... Fighting intensifies and Sadr is surrounded by Marines and Iraqi forces. It is a matter of time that this cowardly bunch are given what they are looking for. Their 1000 virgins.

Taking cover behind walls and palm trees and supported by a column of tanks, American marines advanced through the holy city of Najaf yesterday, cornering the forces of Moqtada al-Sadr and the rebel leader himself in the revered Imam Ali mosque.
With their comrades crawling over roofs to take up firing positions, the men of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit claimed to have cleared the city of pockets of resistance.

Helicopters flew overhead and tanks lined one side of the city's huge cemetery, pressing the Mahdi army into a retreat to the shrine.

But the insurgents did not give up their ground without a fight.

"It's pretty standard. They'd push up here, fire off a few rounds, fire rocket-propelled grenades and then leave," said Capt Patrick McFall.

But for the American forces sweeping the city and the resistance offered by the retreating Shia fighters, witnesses described Najaf as a "ghost city" More...