US warplanes attacked Shi'ite militia positions in the holy city of Najaf this evening, as fighting raged between marines and gunmen loyal to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, witnesses said.
They said plumes of smoke rose from an ancient cemetery in the clashes that intensified at sunset.
Sadr's militia, the Mehdi Army, also attacked an Iraqi police checkpoint in Najaf, killing and wounding several uniformed men, a witness said.
The fighting in Najaf has raged for the sixth straight day as Sadr turned down a call by interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi for his militia to quit the city of 600,000.