Iraq's prime minister ordered Shi'ite fighters to lay down their weapons and leave the holy city of Najaf on Sunday, but fighting raged on with U.S. helicopter gunships pounding guerrilla positions. During a brief tour of Najaf on Sunday, during which he was protected by scores of heavily armed U.S. guards, Allawi urged militants to down their weapons or face the consequences. "There is no negotiation with any militia that bears arms against Iraq and the Iraqi people," he told reporters in the shell-scarred city, 160 km (100 miles) south of Baghdad. "I believe gunmen should leave the holy sites ... quickly, lay down their weapons and return to the rule of order and law." Hundreds of Shi'ite militants have been killed or wounded in Najaf over the past four days, according to the U.S. military and medical officials, as clashes between U.S. forces and militiamen loyal to rebel cleric Moqtada al-Sadr intensify. Clashes also erupted anew in the Baghdad slum district of Sadr City, and in other Baghdad areas, while across southern Iraq tensions remained high in several Shi'ite-dominant cities, including Nassiriya, Amara, Basra and Diwaniya. --More 2003 Local Time 1703 GMT
