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Iraqi forces preparing to attack Najaf's holy shrine
Iraqi govrnment forces could raid Najaf's holy Imam Ali Shrine today in a final push to root out the Shiite militants hiding out there, said Defence Minister Hazem Shaalan. "Today is a day to set this compound free from its imprisonment and its vile occupation," Shaalan told the Arab-language television station Al-Arabiya. State Minister Qassim Dawoud said the planned raid on the shrine would send a message to insurgents throughout the country. "This will be a civilised lesson for those in Fallujah, Samarra, Mosul, Yusufiyah or Basra. Their is no lenience ... with those people," he said.Additional: Now that the peace talks have not worked, "we have to turn to what's stronger and greater in order to teach them a lesson that they won't forget, and to teach others a lesson as well," Shaalan said. Shaalan said Iraqi forces were now fully trained to carry out a raid of the shrine, one of the holiest sites in Shiite Islam. He reiterated that US forces would not enter the shrine, which would almost certainly cause an uproar among the country's majority Shiites. "There will be no American intervention in this regard. The only American intervention would be aerial protection and also securing some of the roads that lead to the compound. As for entering the compound, it will be 100% Iraqis," Shaalan said in comments aired on the Arab-language television station Al-Arabiya. "Our sons in the national guard have been trained on the breaking-in operation, which was easy for them," he said. While never referring to Sadr's Mahdi Army militia by name, Shaalan referred to those who occupied the shrine as a "gang dressed in the clothes of religion."
Posted by: Steve 2004-08-18 |
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