BAGHDAD, Aug. 20 (Xinhuanet) -- A top aide to Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr denied a government announcement that Iraqi police entered Imam Ali shrine in Najaf on Friday, Al-Jazeera TV channel reported.

    "The shrine is still under the control of the Mehdi Army. The Mehdi Army will resist any attempt by the Iraqi police to take over the shrine," said al-Shaibani.

    Al-Shaibani also denied that the Iraqi police has detained 400 Mehdi militiamen.

    He said Mehdi fighters are not inside the shrine but deployed in areas around the shrine to protect it.

    He added the Mehdi Army was to leave the shrine after handing over the keys under an agreement with revered cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

    Asked about Moqtada al-Sadr, he said "Sayyed Moqtada al-Sadr is a son of Najaf and leader of the Mehdi Army in Najaf. He will not leave Najaf except through martyrdom."

    Earlier, an Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman, quoting by Dubai-based al-Arabiya TV channel, said the security forces entered peacefully Imam Ali shrine in the holy city of Najaf on Friday.

    In Baghdad, a spokesman for the interim government said Iraqi police had arrested some 400 militiamen at the Imam Ali shrine.

   Also CNN quoted an interior ministry spokesman, Sabah Kadhim, as saying that 500 militiamen were detained in Najaf.
   Asked where Sadr was, Kadhim replied, "It's possible that he may have escaped overnight."  Enditem