ues suffered superficial damage in the process, mostly due to Mahdi Army fighters mishandling explosives stored in the Kufa Mosque.
Firefights between the Mahdi Army and Badr Organization took place in May as tensions rose over the Mahdi Army's occupation of the Imam Ali Shrine, looting of the mosques in their control, and controversial prisons and Sharia courts. The Najaf cemetery, the largest cemetery in the world, became a battle ground in May 2004 as M1A1 tanks from 2-37 AR fought Mahdi Army soldiers on the outskirts of the cemetery. The Mahdi Army stationed several three man rocket propelled grenade RPG teams in the cemetery, who lived in large tombs to avoid detection from U.S. helicopters and UAVs.
In August 2004, heavy fighting broke out again between American troops of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, the 1st Cavalry Division's 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment and 2nd Battalion, 7th US Cavalry Regiment, 15th Forward Support Battalion and Al-Sadr's Mahdi Army. The battle, which was mostly centered around W?d?' as-Sal?m Cemetery and the southwestern portion of the city, lasted three weeks and ended when senior Iraqi cleric Grand Ayatollah Al? Al-S?st?n? negotiated an end to the fighting. During the aforementioned 3 week period Camp Golf, which occupied a very small footprint at the site of the unfinished Kufah University, received over 165 mortar hits. Many US citizens working for contractor KBR admirably maintained the camp before, during, and after the 22 days of direct mortar hits. Also during that period several fire-fights occurred, some of which were friendly fire. One significant direct hit obliterated the fuel depot, which had contained a combined 90,000 gallons of JP-8, diesel, and gasoline fuels.
The evening before Al-Sistani arrived in the city, two F-16's, flying out of Balad, dropped four two-thousand pound JDAMs (Joint Direct Attack Munitions) on two hotels in close proximity to the Imam Ali Shrine. The success of
