Iraqi civilians get caught in the fierce clashes in Najaf (AFP)

NAJAF, Iraq, Aug 24 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Fierce fighting continued Tuesday, August 24, in the holy city of Najaf, with black smoke rising above the Old City, Mehdi Army fighters accusing US troops of damaging the Imam Ali shrine and the Iraqi-backed troops denying the claim.

In Baghdad, two Ministers of the US-backed Interim Government escaped separate assassination attempts by car bombs that resulted in the killing of at least five persons and injuring six others.

In Najaf, dozens of Iraqi national guardsmen were deployed alongside US troops for the first time around the holy shrine, in a fierce ground assault against Shiite militiamen, an Agence France-Presse (AFP) correspondent saw.

Coming under heavy fire from Mehdi Army fighters loyal to Shiite scholar Moqtada Sadr, the guardsmen, helmeted and wearing body armor, shot back as they advanced down Medina Street , which runs parallel to the Imam Ali mausoleum.

They were accompanied by US troops in Humvees as a blizzard of gunfire and heavy explosions sounded across the Old City , just two streets away from the mausoleum, one of the holiest Shiite shrines in the world.

Warplanes spearheaded a heavy overnight US assault against Sadr's militiamen in Najaf. By dawn, US tanks were back within 200 meters (yards) of the Imam Ali shrine, after having retreated Monday.

Golden Dome Hit

View of the hole in the outer western wall of the shrine of Imam Ali (AFP)

Late Monday, US warplanes bombed the area of the Old City , and fires lit up the night sky, witnesses said. Ahmed Al-Shaibani, an aide to Sadr, said shrapnel from the attack hit the shrine's golden dome, one of its minarets and the compound's outer wall, reported the Associated Press (AP) Tuesday.

The US military denied damaging the shrine and said an air crew saw Iraqi militants in the compound fire a rocket that clipped one of the walls and exploded 10 yards outside, according to the AP.

"We are not doing anything that could have caused damage to the shrine," Marine Capt. Carrie Batson told AP.

There was no independent confirmation of damage to the shrine, but violence earlier Monday ripped a chunk out of the outer wall of the compound.

Al-Jazeera satellite channel broadcast footage of slight damage done to the outer wall of the shrine by the US bombardment.

Sheikh Aws Al-Khafaji, the director of Sadr Office, confirmed to the Doha-based channel that the wall was struck by US tanks.

Ministers Targeted

US soldiers at the scene of attempt on Al-Moumin's life in Baghdad (AFP)

Meanwhile, two ministers in the interim government escaped bomb attacks Tuesday, in which at least five people were killed and six wounded in Baghdad , a bodyguard and official aide told AFP.

Environment Minister Mishkat Al-Moumin escaped a suicide bombing at around 8:00 am (0400 GMT) in the southern part of the capital, said guard Shamil Kamel.

Just 30 minutes later, a roadside bomb blew up as Education Minister Sami Al-Mudhaffar was driving past, his office told AFP.

Moumin was leaving a highly fortified zone where many Iraqi Ministers live in Qadisiya when a driver tried to smash a car packed with explosives into her vehicle, Kamel said.

Two other vehicles in the convoy blocked Moumin's car off before the bomber detonated the car at around 8:00 am (0400 GMT) without harming her, he added.

"Four people were killed along with the suicide bomber," said US Captain David Minascher at the scene, refusing to give any further details.

Kamel said the four dead were all bodyguards and another guard was injured.

Three passers-by were also wounded, said a doctor at the Yarmuk hospital.

Four cars were completely burnt out, with shattered glass and chunks of shrapnel strewn on the road in the residential area, said an AFP photographer.

"At 8:30 am , a roadside bomb exploded as the minister's convoy was passing by. One of his guards was killed and two others were wounded," said Abdulkhaliq Nasir at the education minister's office.

The attack happened in Al-Khudra district in eastern Baghdad .

Justice Minister Malek Dohan Al-Hasan, 83, escaped a bombing attack on his motorcade which was claimed by Al-Qaeda-linked militant Abu Mussab Al-Zarqawi on July 17.

On June 13, Kamal Jarrah, director of cultural relations at the education ministry, was gunned down in front of his home in the west of the capital as he left for work, a day after Iraq's deputy foreign minister, Bassam Kubba, was shot dead in similar circumstances.