"Coalition forces are in control of all the city's entrances and exits ... and all neighborhoods are secure and quiet, except the old city inside the so-called 'Najaf gate' and the (area of Imam) Ali's tomb, where militiamen from the (ruling Baath) party and Saddam's Fedayeen are stationed," Dubai-based MBC television quoted a Shiite cleric as saying by telephone from Najaf.

The militiamen "have forced women, men, elderly men and children to go out of their homes" to serve as "human shields" in and around the holy site, "which has prevented (the allied forces) from combing the interior of the city," said Sayyed Abdelmajid al-Khoei, an opposition figure usually based in London.

It was not clear when and how Khoei entered Najaf, but he claimed there was "no trace of Iraqi forces or even of resistance by party militiamen" in the Najaf region except in the center of the old city, around Ali's tomb and in some mosques which they were using as staging posts for resistance.

The United States, which launched war on Iraq on March 20, has been trading charges with the Iraqi government over the revered Shiite sites in Najaf, 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of Baghdad.

The US military denied Thursday it had struck mosques in Najaf.

Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Said al-Sahhaf said on Wednesday that US-led forces were trying to destroy the revered tombs of imams Ali and Hussein in Najaf and Karbala.

The US military has said Najaf is close to being secure for their troops, but forces loyal to President Saddam Hussein were still reportedly holed up in and around Ali's mosque.

WAR.WIRE