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Iraqi troops, al-Sadr militia in violent showdown
Iraqi troops cordoned off the Basra office of Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadrs followers on Friday and prevented them from holding prayers.The government and Sadr followers confirmed the operation, which comes nearly a month after Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki launched a crackdown on Sadrs Mehdi Army militia in Basra, sparking violent clashes across the south and in Baghdad. We have orders from the prime minister to take back all the government buildings that are occupied by parties and political movements in Basra within 48 hours, Interior Ministry spokesman Major-General Abdul-Karim Khalaf, told Reuters. There were no reports of fighting between Sadr followers and Iraqi troops. Troops from the Iraqi Army prevented us from holding Friday prayers and now they are cordoning off the office. They want to evacuate and storm the office, Harith al-Idhari, the head of the office, told Reuters. Sheikh Asad al-Nasiri, an aide to Sadr in the Shia holy city of Najaf, condemned the inhumane actions of the Iraqi government and vowed that Friday prayers would go ahead as planned. Although there have been sporadic clashes in Basra since Sadr called his militia off the streets of the city late last month, the focus of fighting has been in Sadr City, the tightly-packed east Baghdad slum of two million people. A group of Al Qaeda bombers has slipped into Baghdad to carry out a wave of car bombs and suicide attacks, the US military said on Friday. The unusual warning came after a spate of deadly bombings this week struck areas in northern Iraq, where Al Qaeda Sunni Arab militants are known to be active. Information collected by coalition forces states that numerous Al Qaeda terrorists have entered the Baghdad area with the purpose of carrying out vehicle-borne improvised-explosive devices or suicide vest attacks in the Karkh district of central Baghdad, the military said in a statement. Posted by: Fred 2008-04-19 |
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