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Coalition warns Karbala residents to leave
US-led coalition forces urged residents to leave this Iraqi holy city after three civilians were killed and seven wounded in fighting between Shiite Muslim militiamen and Iraqi troops. US warplanes flew low overhead and coalition soldiers drove through town telling people to leave over loudspeakers following clashes between US-trained Iraqi paramilitaries and loyalists of Shiite radical leader Moqtada Sadr. A patrol of the Iraqi Civil Defence Corps (ICDC) came under attack 50 metres (yards) from the mausoleums of Imam Hussein and Imam Abbas, among Shiite Islam's most revered shrines, said witness Hassan Ghanem. Ghanem said he saw a fighter from Sadr's Mehdi Army militia beat an ICDC officer. Doctor Ali Ardawi told AFP three dead and seven wounded had been admitted to Karbala's hospital. "All the victims were civilians," he said. A Qatari cameraman working for the Al-Jazeera Arabic television channel told AFP he was lightly wounded around 6:30 pm (1430 GMT) Saturday after a US tank opened fire near the Imam Hussein shrine. He was being treated at the hotel where he was staying because it was impossible for ambulances to get near the area. "I was filming US tanks firing at the Mehdi militia near the holy shrines when a strong explosion suddenly knocked me to the ground," he said. The Polish-led multinational division based in the region said one coalition soldier was wounded after his patrol came under attack around 10:50 am (0650 GMT) near the Al-Muhayem mosque in Karbala. A representative of Shiite Islam's top cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, called on local people to find a "peaceful solution" to the violence. "I call on residents to intervene with both parties in the conflict to find a peaceful solution," Sheikh Abdel Mehdi Karabalai told AFP. A senior official said the US military was urging local leaders to secure a peaceful outcome, but insisted that the militia disband and Sadr face justice for his alleged role in the murder of a rival cleric last year. Posted by: Fred 2004-05-15 |
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