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Sadr supporters under attack
US APACHE helicopters sprayed fire on the private army of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr during fierce battles today in the western Baghdad district of Al-Showla, witnesses said. The fighting erupted when five trucks of US soldiers and the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps (ICDC) tried to enter the district and were attacked by Sadr supporters, Amid said. Coming under fire, the ICDC, a paramilitary force trained by the Americans, turned on the US soldiers and started to shoot at them, according to Amid.
| I hope our guys killed them, each and every one... |
The soldiers fled their vehicles and headed for cover and then began to battle both the Mehdi Army and the ICDC members, he said. Their vehicles were set ablaze. "Two Apaches opened fire on armed members of the Mehdi Army," said Showla resident Abbas Amid. Heavy gunfire rattled the district and columns of black smoke billowed into the sky. Burning tyres and tree trunks were used to barricade the neighbourhood, where young men toting clubs and carrying light weapons patrolled the streets. But 16 US Humvees all-terrain vehicles, backed by two tanks, rolled into Showla.
Tension was also running high in the Shiite-controlled Sadr City slum in northern Baghdad, a day after pitched battles between Sadr partisans and the US military left 22 Iraqis dead and 85 others wounded, and killed seven US troops. US troops opened fire today wounding a child after a group of children stoned soldiers deployed outside the Karama police station. Amer al-Hussein, a spokesman for Sadr in the impoverished neighbourhood, told reporters that the incendiary Shiite leader had "called for a return to calm but his partisans want to fight against the American troops. We want peace not confrontations but if the Americans enter our neighbourhood, there will be a fight." He said that US troops had arrested militiamen from Sadrâs Mehdi Army but the report could not be immediately confirmed by the US military.
Three US tanks blocked the two entrances to Sadr City and soldiers searched cars while helicopters flew overhead. US troops also reclaimed the main police station, which Sadr backers had seized yesterday. The seven US soldiers died yesterday fighting for control of police and public buildings in the Shiâite suburb. Thousands of people, some of them armed, gathered outside Sadrâs offices in Sadr City to take part in the funeral of people killed in Sundayâs fierce fighting. "There is only one God. America is the enemy of Allah," the crowd chanted as a coffin was carried through the streets.
The uprising by Sadrâs supporters also raged on elsewhere as they seized the governorâs office in the British-controlled southern port city of Basra. Dozens of armed Mehdi Army militiamen stormed the governorâs office at dawn today, raising a green Islamic flag on the roof, he said. Four hours later British troops were no longer in the area while policemen who had been inside the building when it was overrun were seen deployed alongside the Medhi Army militiamen.
| You go over to the other side, don't expect to come back to our side. |
In the deadliest clashes, at least 20 people were killed and more than 200 wounded in fighting yesterday between the Mehdi Army and Spanish-led coalition forces in the Shiite shrine city of Najaf. A Salvador soldier also died. Another four were killed in similar clashes between British-led forces and Sadrâs supporters in the southern city of Amara. Sadr told his followers on Sunday to "terrorise" the enemy because protests had become useless. It was not clear whether Sadrâs call was an order to resort to violence.
| Looks like it was, doesn't it? |
Tensions had boiled over with the arrest of a top Sadr aide in connection with the murder of a rival cleric last year and after the shutting down of a pro-Sadr newspaper last month.
| Finally got around to pinning the Khoei killing on him, did they? |
US Marines have also launched action in the Iraqi flashpoint town of Fallujah where the contractors were killed last week, two of them savagely mutilated. After vowing an overwhelming response, troops sealed off the city and began preparations for a flushing out of insurgents in the city. "Our concern is precise. We want to get the guys we are after. We donât want to go in there with guns blazing," said Lieutenant James Vanzant.
| Why not? The Bad Guys came out with guns blazing, didn't they? |
The restive town, 50km west of Baghdad, has been sealed off and troops were only letting people enter or leave with Fallujah licence plates. US forces had barricaded residents inside. Marine officers said the operation would last several days and it was not clear if they would seize the centre of the flashpoint town. Earlier, an Iraqi witness said several people were killed and others wounded when US troops raided the Sunni Muslim town.
US administrator to Iraq Paul Bremer has described Sadr as an "outlaw".
"Effectively he is attempting to establish his authority in the place of the legitimate authority. We will not tolerate this. We will reassert the law and order which the Iraqi people expect," Mr Bremer said.
| Y'think publicly lining up with Hamas and Hezbollah might have had something to do with it? |
Doubt was also aired today that Iraq would be able to run under its own steam by June 30, the deadline marked by interim administrators in the country. The security situation in some cities was in shambles and Iraqi police forces were not prepared to take over, said Senator Richard Lugar, an Indiana Republican.
| Apparently not, when they're joining the Bad Guys. Time to fire most of them and start over. Maybe next year they can have their country back. |
Asked whether the transfer of power was coming too soon, Lugar said: "It may be, and I think itâs probably time to have that debate." Lugar said there were still far too many questions about what would happen after June 30. He said the administration had shared no plans with his committee regarding an ambassador, who the 3000 embassy staff would be, and how they would be kept safe.
Posted by: tipper 2004-04-05 |
