NAJAF, Iraq, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- U.S. forces in Iraq suddenly postponed a planned offensive against rebel Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr in the holy city of Najaf Wednesday.
The delay came after a day of intense preparation for the attack, with a convoy of tanks and armored vehicles deployed.
Officers declined to tell the New York Times why they pulled back.
"Preparations to do the offensive are taking longer than initially anticipated," said Maj. David Holahan, second in command of the Marine battalion in Najaf. "We never said what time we would do it."
Early Wednesday, one of Iraq's deputy presidents, Ibrahim Jaafari, called for the U.S.-led foreign forces to withdraw from Najaf and allow Iraqi security forces to take over.
"Iraqi forces can administer Najaf to end this phenomenon of violence in this city that is holy to all Muslims," he said on Arabic TV channel al-Jazeera.
U.S. forces have roughly 5,000 soldiers in the area, which was largely quiet Wednesday.
Elsewhere, violence continued in Iraq when a bomb exploded in a market just north of Baghdad, killing at least six Iraqis and wounding 10, according to local news reports.
