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| Iraq-Jordan |
| 14 dead in Mosul violence |
| 2004-08-04 |
| At least 14 Iraqis were killed as violence engulfed the northern city of Mosul, bogged down in bitter clashes between police and insurgents, as six kidnappers foreigners were released in Iraq. Fighting erupted at around midday (0800 GMT) Wednesday on the west bank of the Tigris River as loud explosions and heavy gunfire ricocheted across the city, an AFP correspondent said. At least five bridges were cut off. "The hospital received 12 bodies, including two women, and 26 injured, most of them civilians," said a doctor at Mosul's Medical City hospital. Another 12 patients were admitted with injuries to the general hospital. The regional governorate quickly imposed a curfew from 3:00 pm until Thursday morning in the city, home to 1.7 million mainly Sunni Muslim Iraqis, with Kurdish, Christian and Turcomen minorities. Streets emptied as police said gunmen forced shopkeepers to close. Earlier a man and a woman were killed when a roadside bomb exploded in the path of a US military convoy at around 10:35 am, police said. The US military said none of its personnel were hurt in the blast. A doctor at the general hospital said two people had been admitted with shrapnel wounds. Meanwhile, the release of four Jordanian and two Turkish truck drivers offered a rare reprieve to the country's protracted hostage crisis. A self-styled Iraqi mediator said the four Jordanians, snatched eight days ago, were released in the flashpoint city of Fallujah after being rescued by the city's insurgent leaders, the advisory council for the mujahedeen. Ibrahim Jassem told AFP that he was waiting for a team from the Jordanian embassy to collect the drivers. "The kidnappers ran away" when council members burst into the house where the hostages were being held, he said. Insisting he works independently from Islamists, Jassem branded the abductors as "criminals". But an official at the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad said he was unaware of their release. "We don't have any confirmation about the release and we will not give any statement until we see them in front of us," said Abdel Moneim al-Nadjada, an adviser to the Jordanian ambassador. Meanwhile celebrations broke out in Turkey as Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul confirmed that two Turks, among the dozens of foreign hostages in Iraq, had been released. "This good news has made us happy," the Anatolia news agency quoted Gul as saying. Al-Jazeera television had reported earlier that two Turkish hostages threatened with beheading had been freed. They were held by militants loyal to Iraq's alleged Al-Qaeda chief, Abu Mussab Zarqawi, held responsible for a string of kidnappings and grisly killings. Faced with ceaseless violence, multinational troops have begun patrolling the porous Syrian border in a bid to stop insurgents from crossing into Iraq. Damascus has repeatedly denied US claims that Syria backs the insurgency in Iraq and turns a blind eye when combattants cross the 600-kilometre (350-mile) border. Defence Minister Hazem al-Shaalan also stepped up his rhetoric against long-standing foe Iran, demanding that Tehran immediately return Iraqi planes handed over ahead of the 1991 Gulf War, in an interview published in Kuwait. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #3 Update: A brother of the founder of the Ansar al-Islam militant group was among at least 14 people killed in clashes on Wednesday between police and insurgents in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, officials said. Fighting erupted at around midday (0800 GMT) southwest of Mosul on the west bank of the Tigris River, bringing the sound of loud explosions and heavy gunfire, an AFP correspondent said. A brother and spokesman of Mullah Krekar, head of the Islamic militant Ansar al-Islam, was killed, a provincial government spokesman said. "Khalid Sido, the brother of Mullah Krekar, was killed during the clashes in the Yarmouk neighbourhood," said Hazem Dalawi. A military spokesman in Mosul confirmed that "multi-national forces supported" Iraqi security forces as they responded to the coordinated attacks. Weapons were found inside Sido`s Opel vehicle as well as a black flag scrawled with "there is only one God and Mohammed is his prophet," Dalawi said. Say hello to Uday, Sido. |
| Posted by: Steve 2004-08-04 4:19:17 PM |
| #2 also reports that Mullah Krekar's brother among the dead, which would indicate this was a fight with Al Ansar elements. |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2004-08-04 2:03:44 PM |
| #1 bbc reports this is first confrontation between Iraqi forces and insurgents WITHOUT coalition forces backing up Iraqi forces. |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2004-08-04 1:48:13 PM |