Iraqi Cleric Warns U.S. Against Attacking Najaf

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TIraqi Cleric Warns U.S. Against Attacking NajafMarines May Renew Assault on FallujahBy Alistair Lyon, Reuters
(April 23) -- A rebel Shi'ite cleric threatened on Friday to unleash suicide bombers if U.S. forces attacked Iraq's holy city of Najaf and U.S. Marines said they might renew an assault on the Sunni bastion of Falluja.
AFP/GettyU.S. Marines monitor Fallujah from a temporary base.
Fighters loyal to the cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr, ambushed a military convoy in the Shi'ite shrine city of Kerbala and clashed with Bulgarian troops deployed there.
The Bulgarian Defense Ministry said one of its soldiers died after being wounded in the ambush of an armored troop carrier near Kerbala city hall.
''We will shed blood to keep our holy city,'' Sadr, who is based in Najaf, said in a Friday sermon in the next door town of Kufa. He said many men and women had asked his blessing for ''martyrdom operations'' against the Americans.
''I keep telling them to wait. But if there was an assault on our cities or on our religious authorities, we will be time bombs and will not stop before destroying enemy forces.'' </snip>


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