Residents count cost of damage from fighting

(30 Aug 2004) 1. Alley with cars and people 2. People on the street 3. Woman filling water with her pot 4. Ambulance driving 5. Destroyed house 6. Street with debris 7. Woman walking among rubbles 8. Damage inside the house 9. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Khadim Aliwi, Resident: "All our families are in a mess. Families with children and pregnant women all ran away. Children were killed. Here a woman was killed and no one took her body away. Don't they have shame these Americans? Don't they have shame or honour? This is not acceptable." 10. A woman walking inside a damaged house 11. Various shots of damage 12. Iraqis shopping from local market 13. Locals walking 14. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Um Hussein, Resident: "I want water. We don't have water or electricity. All the the window's glass was broken. All the chickens I had on the roof have died." 15. 1920 Revolution square 16. Main street STORYLINE: Iraqi residents of the battle-scarred city of Najaf started returning to their damaged homes on Monday, as the ceasefire entered its third day. Many Najaf locals were angry at US troops and al-Mahdi army militiamen for the destruction caused to their city. On Friday, militants loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al Sadr, left the Imam Ali Shrine and handed over the keys to Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini al-Sistani, symbolising their acceptance of a peace deal to end three weeks of fighting. The government had begun to re-establish control over the Old City of Najaf by Friday. The Najaf peace plan presented by al-Sistani, the most revered Shi'ite cleric in Iraq, called for the cities of Najaf and Kufa to be declared weapons-free. It also asked that all foreign forces withdraw from Najaf and leave police in charge of security and for the government to compensate those harmed when fighting erupted there three weeks ago. The plan allowed al-Sistani to exercise his considerable authority and prove that he could succeed where other peace emissaries had failed. It gave the interim government control of the city, disentangled US forces from the persistent violence and let al-Sadr and his militants walk away free. However, it also allowed al-Sadr to keep his militia. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...