IRAQ: Shiite bastion boils with anti-US anger after at least 57 killed
8 U.S. Troops, 30 Iraqis Die in Fighting
Al-Sadr moved to his office in the nearby city of Najaf, in an alley near the city's holiest shrine, according to a top aide, Sheik Qays al-Khaz'ali. "I have pledged not to allow a drop of blood to be shed except my own," al-Sadr said in a statement. "I'm prepared to have my own blood shed for what is holy to me." He said he was moving to avoid bloodshed in a mosque. "I feared that the sanctity of a glorious and esteemed mosque would be violated by scum and evil people," he said. The Americans "will have no qualms to embark on such actions."