"It must be done. It is a duty to fight and to carry out jihad," or holy war, against the coalition troops, Sheikh Abdul Karim al-Mudarress, head of the association of Iraqi ulema, or religious teachers, told Iraqi satellite television.

"Whoever perishes in such combat will be a martyr."

The call came shortly after five US soldiers were killed when the driver of a taxi detonated a bomb at a roadblock north of the Iraqi city of Najaf on Saturday morning.

On Friday, a leading Iraqi imam, holding a rifle as he led emotionally charged weekly prayers here, called on Muslims worldwide to launch a jihad to protest the US-led onslaught against Iraq.

"We address our appeal to all Muslims and Arabs everywhere to tell them this is the day of the jihad which has become the duty of every Muslim," said Abdul Ghaffur al-Qaissi.

"Failing to join the jihad would be disobeying the orders of God," the imam of the Abdul Qader al-Gilani mosque in central Baghdad thundered, as the worshippers chanted "Allahu Akbar," or "God is Greatest."

He said failure to join the jihad "would be a sin, and no faithful Muslim accepts to disobey God."

WAR.WIRE