BAGHDAD, Aug. 9 (UPI) -- A radical Shiite cleric vowed Monday to fight against coalition forces until he lost his "last drop of blood," and threatened oil export officials in the south if they did not stop pumping crude.
At the same time, U.S. forces continued to pound the southern holy city of Najaf, which they say they have surrounded to contain Moqtada Sadr and his Mehdi militia.
Oil tankers continued to load an estimated 3 million to 4 million barrels in storage tanks at the port before stopping work, an Oil Ministry official said.
"Sadr's people threatened them to stop producing, or else," the official said. "I expect a very 'warm' night in Basra, and in Baghdad, tonight."
U.S. forces estimate that 360 Mehdi Army fighters have been killed in clashes, along with eight coalition troops. Another 12 U.S. soldiers and Iraqi National Guard soldiers have been wounded. Some 36 injured people are being treated at a Najaf hospital, according to a report from the Red Crescent, the Muslim arm of the Red Cross.
Fighting broke out Thursday after coalition troops surrounded Sadr's house, said Raad al-Kathimi, a spokesman for Sadr. A U.S. senior military official disagreed, saying the fighting broke out after Mehdi Army troops attacked a police station in the middle of the night.
Fighting in Najaf later spread to heavily Shiite Muslim Sadr City just northeast of Baghdad and Shola, another suburb of the capital. The new fighting ended a truce approved by both sides in April.
At the same time, an Iraqi judge issued arrest warrants against former Pentagon favorite Ahmed Chalabi and his nephew, Salem. Chalabi is wanted for alleged counterfeiting of former Iraqi dinar notes. Nephew Salem Chalabi, who is in charge of gathering evidence for a future trial of Saddam Hussein, was charged with murder.
Both men said the charges were politically motivated.
A suicide car bomb in Balad Ruz, about 20 miles north of Baghdad killed seven police, a senior military official said. A deputy governor was among those wounded. In another attack, a bus was caught in a roadside bomb, killing four Iraqis. A mortar attack just northeast of the heavily fortified "green zone" where thousands of Americans live killed four Iraq police and injured three American soldiers, a U.S. military spokeswoman said.
While not killing anyone, other mortar attacks -- as many as 25 in a 24-hour period -- raised the feeling of uncertainty in the capital. U.S. military Humvees blocked roads leading to Sadr City, a northeast suburb of Baghdad, which has also seen intense fighting in recent days.
Aid agencies are standing at the ready to send medical supplies and food to Najaf and to Sadr City, said Ahmed Khalid al-Rawi, a spokesman for the International Committee for the Red Cross.
Fighters in Najaf are using medical clinics and schools to hide themselves and their weapons, a senior military official speaking on condition of anonymity, told journalists.
"People found in the medical clinic were not patients, they were not medical personnel," the official said. "Iraq police and national guard were there to help determine who these people were."
Prime Minister Iyad Allawi made a surprise visit to Najaf to ask Sadr to stop fighting, a plea Sadr ignored.
"The Mehdi Army and I will keep resisting. I will stay in holy Najaf and will never leave," Sadr said in press reports. "I will stay here until my last drop of blood."
Iraq's Defense Minister Hazem Shaalan said Saturday that the new government will "arrest anybody disturbing the security of our country," including Sadr.
Coalition forces are surrounding the Imam Ali Shrine where fighters are dug in, the official said. The governor of Najaf has given approval for coalition forces to attack fighters at the shrine, something they haven't done yet, the official said.
At the same time, fighting in Sadr City has stopped reconstruction projects there, said Col. Robert Abrams, commander of the 1st Cavalry Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team.
"The biggest casualties of the attacks are the innocent people, mostly children, of Sadr City who become sick and die from standing sewage and contaminated drinking water," Abrams said. "We were just starting to gain momentum on projects to improve the quality of life for the citizens of Sadr City."
U.S. troops cordoned off key roads into Najaf and Sadr city, apparently to try to prevent a repeat of the two months of fighting that started in April. New government officials have condemned what they call a Shiite uprising.
The fighting comes as Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's most powerful Shiite cleric, flew to Britain late last week to receive medical treatment for a heart problem.
