Karbala militia expecting US attack ("any moment now")

[Barrett808]

Tension ran high in the holy Iraqi Shi'ite city of Karbala - where wanted cleric Moqtada al-Sadr was bunkered in with supporters and surrounded by US troops.

Sadr and his supporters said mediation efforts with the US-led coalition had failed in Najaf, and they were preparing for what they believed to be an imminent US attack.

Talks halted "because the mediators have told us the Americans are putting obstacles towards finding solutions to the crisis and the situation is getting worse," Qais al-Khazaali, the head of Sadr's office, told reporters in Najaf.

"We are expecting the Americans to attack Najaf any moment now," he added.

(more)

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/04/18/1082226619860.html