A rchive Date
[ 06-05-2004 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Iraq ]
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[http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2004/05/06/448435-ap.html
Major assault against Iraqi militia
By SCHEHEREZADE FARAMARZI
NAJAF, Iraq (AP) - U.S.-led forces launched their biggest assault yet against militiamen loyal to a radical Shiite cleric, raiding hideouts in several cities Wednesday and clashing with gunmen in the world's biggest cemetery. At least 15 Iraqis and a U.S. soldier were killed.
On Thursday morning, a suicide car bomb exploded near a checkpoint to the main complex housing U.S. administrative offices in central Baghdad, killing six Iraqi civilians, a U.S. military officer said. At least a dozen people were injured in the blast, the officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Three of the injured were U.S. soldiers, two of whom were in critical condition.
The bomb blast reduced three cars to hulks of twisted, charred metal. Shattered glass from nearby shops littered the area.
On Wednesday, moderate Shiites tried to persuade anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to back away from his confrontation with the United States - a reflection of their growing concern.
Skirmishes between U.S. troops and al-Sadr's al-Mahdi Army militia have grown deadlier recently as the military steps up pressure on the cleric while trying to avoid an offensive in the Shiite holy city of Najaf.
"The operation will continue until the goal of eliminating and disarming al-Sadr's militia is met," Polish forces spokesman Lt.-Col. Robert Strzelecki said. "I think that will take place soon."
The heaviest fighting in the south - part of the military's Operation Iron Saber - came in the holy city of Karbala, where coalition forces raided a hotel, the local former Baath party headquarters and the regional governor's office, where al-Sadr fighters had been stockpiling weapons, U.S. Brig.-Gen. Mark Kimmitt said.
In the overnight raid on the governor's office, troops came under fire, Kimmitt said in Baghdad. He said 10 al-Sadr followers were killed. The U.S. soldier died when a dump truck tried to ram a checkpoint in Karbala, the military said. He was the 20th U.S. serviceman killed in Iraq in May.
Outside the city of Kufa, U.S. forces attacked a van where Iraqis were seen unloading weapons. The vehicle was destroyed and five Iraqis were killed, Kimmitt said.
In Najaf, U.S. troops battled al-Mahdi Army fighters outside a cemetery near the Imam Ali Shrine, Iraq's holiest Shiite site. The soldiers opened fire with machine-guns on militiamen who had ambushed them.
More than 50 militiamen took part in the fighting in Najaf's sprawling cemetery, ambushing three U.S. Humvees. As the Americans returned fire, mourners who had come to bury their dead ran for safety. "American forces tried to enter Najaf from Najaf Lake, but they were repelled by the al-Mahdi Army which forced them to flee," said a militia official, Mushtaq al-Khafaji. He said no militiamen were hurt.
The U.S. army says al-Sadr's militiamen are hiding weapons in the cemetery, the world's largest with five million graves. One Najaf resident said he saw stocks of rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons stored in his family plot, but when he returned later the arms were gone.
Iraqi Governing Council member Mohammed Bahr al-Ulloum delivered a message to al-Sadr from a group of influential Shiites calling on his militia to disarm and leave Najaf, council member Raja Habib Al-Khuzaai told The Associated Press.
The message from the group - made up of about 500 Shiites, including local council members, tribal officials and others - represented the most public effort by Shiite leaders to push al-Sadr into making concessions to end the standoff, which began when his militia launched an uprising in early April.
Meanwhile, the director of Baghdad's Abu Ghraib Prison promised to open the facility to the international Red Cross and the Iraqi Interior and Human Rights ministries amid an outcry over abuse of Iraqi prisoners.
Maj.-Gen. Geoffrey Miller also apologized for the "illegal or unauthorized acts" committed by a "small number of our soldiers" at Abu Ghraib, where photographs showed stripped and hooded Iraqis being abused by U.S. guards.
U.S. President George W. Bush went on two Arabic-language TV stations to try to assuage outrage across the Middle East over the abuse. Bush condemned the prisoners' treatment as "abhorrent" and pledged that those found guilty "will be brought to justice" - but stopped short of an apology.
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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