U.S. helicopter gunships opened fire on Shiite fighters hiding in Najaf's massive cemetery Tuesday as U.S. patrols armed with speakers warned them to leave the city immediately or face death. U.S. tanks drove into the cemetery, explosions shook the streets and black smoke rose over parts of the city, but the fighting with Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia appeared more sporadic than in recent days. A large fire broke out at a hotel about 300 meters (yards) from the Imam Ali Shrine, Najaf's holiest site, which the fighters have reportedly been using as a base. Witnesses said insurgents were firing from inside the hotel, when U.S. forces returned fire. In a new tactic to try to quell the violence, U.S. military vehicles equipped with loudspeakers drove through the streets warning residents to stay away from the fighting and for the fighters to put down their weapons and leave Najaf or else they would be killed. "We ask residents to cooperate with the Iraqi army and police," said a voice in Arabic through a loudspeaker. Small clashes also broke out in the Baghdad Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City, despite a nighttime curfew that was imposed Monday.
