Blood bath in Iraq....The Army of the Mahdi Join the resistance

[General Duke]

Iraqis killed in US Apache air strike

 

Monday 05 April 2004, 15:35 Makka Time, 12:35 GMT

 

According to Aljazeera's correspondent, a number of adjacent houses were damaged in the strike.

 

A US vehicle was also seen burning in the area, he added.

 

Followers of the Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr had previously taken control of al-Shula area, the correspondent said.

 

Falluja besieged

 

Meanwhile, at least six Iraqis have been killed and several others wounded in clashes with US occupation forces in Falluja, west of Baghdad.

 

According to Aljazeera's correspondent, huge numbers of US soldiers have surrounded the city, preventing people from entering or leaving.

 

One Falluja resident reportedly told AFP that: "US forces bombed the Goland residential neighbourhood."

 

Several people were killed, others wounded and some houses hit, said Burhan Abid, adding he went on to the roof of his house when the fighting started and saw US aircraft overhead.

 

According to Abid the fighting erupted at 4:00am (00:00 GMT) and lasted for 90 minutes.

 

US occupation forces have prevented Aljazeera's media crew from entering Falluja city.

 

 

The US army patrols the streets of Sadr City

 

"We were also prevented from videotaping the area," reported Aljazeera's correspondent. Jordan-Baghdad highway shut

 

He added that occupation forces "are based at all gates of the city, preventing citizens from entering or exiting it".

 

US forces have told Aljazeera the city will remain sealed off for a couple of days.

 

"Door-to-door operations may be launched in the city, in an attempt to capture those who killed US contractors last week," the correspondent added.

 

 

The US-led occupation forces have also shut the highways from Baghdad to Jordan due to ongoing "military activities" in the area of Falluja and Ramadi.

 

"The highways from Baghdad to Jordan will be closed indefinitely due to military activities"

 

US consulate statement

 

"The highways (highways 1 and 10) from Baghdad to Jordan will be closed indefinitely due to military activities," the US consulate said in a statement on Monday.

 

The latest incident follows heavy clashes between occupation forces and Iraqis in Baghdad on Sunday, which, according to latest reports, left 50 people dead. "More than 50 people were killed and 100 others were injured", Amir al-Hussaini, director of al-Sadr's office in Rusafa, told Aljazeera.

 

 

Najaf explosions

 

Also on Monday, two explosions were heard in the holy city of Najaf.

 

 

At least 20 Iraqis were killed in

clashes with Spanish forces

 

Aljazeera's correspondent reports the explosions may have targeted the Spanish forces' headquarters in the city.

 

On Sunday, 20 Iraqis were killed and more than 100 injured in clashes between Spanish-led occupation troops and Shia demonstrators in Najaf.

 

Two occupation soldiers – one from EL Salvador and the other from the US - also died in the clashes.

 

The demonstrators were protesting against the detention of one of the top aides of Muqtada al-Sadr.

 

Mosul blast

 

In the northern city of Mosul, a roadside bomb attack on a US convoy on Sunday killed one American soldier and wounded another, a US military spokesman said on Monday.

 

 

Al-Sadr supporters have taken Two British tanks

over the Basra governor's office

 

The attack was on a main road 390km north of Baghdad.

 

In the British-controlled port city of Basra, followers of al-Sadr have taken over the governor's office.

 

Elsewhere, another US soldier and a Marine were killed in separate attacks by fighters in Iraq, the US army said on Monday. It said the Marine was killed in the tense area west of Baghdad on Monday. The soldier was killed by a car bomb in the northern city of Kirkuk on Sunday.

 

Basra

 

Dozens of armed Mahdi Army members stormed the governor's office in the southern city at dawn, raising a green flag on the roof of the building, an AP reporter said.

 

Mahdi Army members were seen deployed inside and on the rooftop of the governor's office, alongside policemen who had been inside the building when it was overtaken.

 

Four hours later there were no British troops in the area.

 

Eighth US soldier killed

 

An eighth US soldier had died from wounds sustained in fighting on Sunday with radical Shia protesters in the Baghdad's al-Sadr's city, the US army said on Monday.

 

In a statement, the army said its previous reports that a US soldier was also killed on Sunday in clashes with Shia protesters near Najaf were incorrect. It said a Salvadoran soldier was the only foreign soldier killed in the fighting near Najaf.

 

It has also emerged that eight Iraqis were killed and 10 others were injured late on Sunday during clashes between British forces and supporters of al-Sadr in the Iraqi southern Maysan province, Aljazeera's correspondent in Iraq reported.

 

Two British tanks were also destroyed as they came under RPG attack in al-Amel area in Amara city, the correspondent added.

[General Duke]

Thousands march in support of al-Sadr

 

Sunday 04 April 2004, 9:45 Makka Time, 6:45 GMT

Al-Sadr is a vocal opponent of the US-led occupation and IGC

 

 

Thousands of supporters of Iraq's Shia cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, marched through the streets of Baghdad on Saturday, in a show of strength punctuated by anti-occupation rhetoric.

 

 

Members of al-Sadr's militia, known as the Mahdi army, paraded through al-Sadr city, his power base in the northeast of the Iraqi capital.

 

Some of them wore black masks, and many carried banners and pictures of the cleric and of his father who was assassinated in 1999. An American and an Israeli flag were set on fire.

 

"This parade of the Mahdi army was ordered by his eminency the general commander of the army, Sayid Muqtada al-Sadr," said Sadiq al-Hashimi, a cleric who was leading a group of marchers.

 

"We are here to show the world our might, this army can be a striking force at any moment, it's a time bomb that will go off at a time and place it chooses."

 

Al-Sadr has often spoken out against the US occupation and against the Iraqi Governing Council which Washington hand-picked.

 

He has wide influence, especially among poor urban Shia in and around Baghdad, and formed his "Jaysh al-Mahdi" militia last year.

 

Hundreds of Iraqis protested at

the closing of al-Sadr's newspaper

 

 

The US-led occupation authorities in Iraq closed down a newspaper acting as his mouthpiece last Sunday, accusing al-Hawza of inciting violence. His supporters have mounted several major protests since.

 

Saturday's marchers also complained about the arrest of a senior al-Sadr aide who they said had been detained by US forces.

 

"This is a message to the council of oppression and the US who tried to tell the people we have no influence," Said Murtada Kinani, a construction worker who joined the parade, said.

 

"Saddam could not stop us, do they think they can stop us?"

[General Duke]

Soliders killed in Baghdad in fighting with Shiites

 

By LARRY KAPLOW

Cox News Service

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Seven U.S. soldiers were killed and more than 24 were wounded Sunday in fierce fighting in a Shiite Muslim slum of Baghdad, pushing the number of American troops who have died in Iraq to more than 600. The U.S. military also reported two Marines were killed in separate action near Fallujah.

 

The ambush of Army troops in Baghdad and the intense gun battle that followed was unprecedented in a Shiite area and came amid a day of Shiite rioting in four cities.

 

Suddenly, American troops faced the prospect that the majority Shiites could be turning from uneasy tolerance to open resistance against the U.S.-led occupation. Shiites comprise about 60 percent of Iraq's population and a sustained revolt could dwarf the year-long anti-American insurgency by the minority Sunnis and remnants of Saddam Hussein's former regime.

 

Near the holy city of Najaf, an attack on a Spanish garrison killed one Salvadoran soldier and wounded a dozen more. The Spanish Defense Ministry said an American also was killed in the fighting there, though U.S. military officials did not confirmed that. At least 14 Iraqis were killed and more than 100 wounded in the gun battle and rioting. Coalition helicopters and airplanes were used to try to scatter the crowds.

 

By Sunday evening, Iraq's pre-eminent Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Hussein al-Sistani, was reportedly calling for calm, as he has throughout the U.S. occupation. Shiites were persecuted by Saddam's regime and they have been largely willing to cooperate with the American-led coalition.

 

The rioters and gunmen Sunday were supporters of 30-year-old militant Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who stepped up his anti-American rhetoric last week after U.S. troops closed his newspaper for allegedly inciting violence. Coalition troops also arrested a senior aide of al-Sadr in connection with the murder of another cleric.

 

Also Sunday, the U.S. military announced that two Marines were killed in action over the weekend in the Anbar province, a part of the so-called Sunni Triangle that includes the city of Fallujah, where four U.S. contractors were killed and mutilated Wednesday.

 

Overall, the deaths brought to at least 610 the number of American troops who have died since the invasion just over a year ago, according to the Associated Press.

 

The fighting comes after the horrific killing of the contractors in Fallujah and assassinations of Iraqi security officials. The violence caused new concern among policy makers in Washington as the Bush administration prepares to hand over political authority to a new Iraqi government on June 30.

 

Bush administration officials have repeatedly said that date is fixed, but Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana suggested Sunday that more troops should be sent to Iraq and, perhaps, the hand-over delayed until the country can be pacified.

 

"I think it's time to probably have that debate, because clearly pragmatically, as we're discussing today, you have the militia that has not been disarmed," said Lugar, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "And, in fact, the worse the situation becomes, the militia begin to fight each other, that is, civil war. Sometimes people say, well, in the case of civil war, then we're out of that. But, that won't work. We are in Iraq, and so we are going to have to bring stability."

 

The fighting in Baghdad was in the Sadr City slum, a district of some 2 million Shiites that has been relatively quiet over the past year. The area was called Saddam Hussein City under the previous government and is now named after a cleric killed by Saddam's regime.

 

U.S. officials said that supporters of al-Sadr, including his newly fashioned al-Mehdi militia, tried to take over local government buildings and police stations.

 

His supporters have made such attempts in the past, sometimes angering other, more moderate Shiites.

 

Television video showed Shiites running with rifles and rocket launchers along the streets of the sprawling urban district. Two American Humvees were in flames and the fighting continued late into the night.

 

By the end of the day, Arabic television stations reported that al-Sadr was calling for an end to the mass protests, but he continued to urge action against the coalition.

 

"Terrorize your enemy, God will reward you well for what pleases him. It is not possible to remain silent in front of their abuse," he said in a statement reported by the Reuters news agency.

 

There were several hot spots around Iraq Sunday.

 

A suicide bomber in the northern city of Kirkuk wounded two U.S. soldiers.

 

The Salvadoran soldier was killed in Kufa, near the central city of Najaf, after thousands of rioters and gunmen gathered at the Spanish base in the area. Some Iraqis fired at the base, according to wire reports and video from local cameramen. It was the first combat death among the soldiers from the Central American country.

 

U.S. administrator for Iraq L. Paul Bremer condemned the riots, saying that the fall of Saddam's regime opened the door for peaceful protest, but not this.

 

"This morning a group of people in Najaf have crossed the line and they have moved to violence. This will not be tolerated," he said. "This will not be tolerated by the coalition and this will not be tolerated by the Iraqi people."

 

The friction with the al-Sadr's Shiites began building last week. U.S. troops closed for 60 days al-Sadr's mouthpiece newspaper claiming it was inciting anti-American violence. They also detained Mustafa al-Yacoubi, a senior adviser and spokesman for al-Sadr. U.S. officials say Yacoubi is connected to the murder last year of moderate, pro-U.S. Shiite cleric Abdel Majid al-Khoei, who was hacked to death by a mob in Najaf last April shortly after he returned from exile.

 

There were also a large anti-coalition demonstration Sunday in the southern Iraq city of Nasiriyah, where Italian troops traded fire with gunmen and rioters demonstrating against al-Yacoubi's detention. In the city of Amarah, British troops clashed with protesters.

 

Al-Sadr is believed to be seeking to expand his support, which now lies mostly among poor Shiites. As he sharpened his already anti-American rhetoric, angry protests began in Baghdad Thursday.

 

In a sermon Friday, al-Sadr characterized his supporters as a new opposition to the United States, aligned in spirit with the Lebanese Hezbollah guerillas and the Palestinian Hamas militants. Saturday hundreds of black-clad men paraded in Sadr City as members of his al-Mehdi militia.

 

Sunday morning, in an unusual announcement, the U.S. consulate warned that it expected demonstrations around Baghdad that would likely turn violent.

 

One of the more peaceful gatherings came when several hundred Shiites also came to Firdos Square -- where U.S. troops tore down the statue of Saddam Hussein upon capturing central Baghdad last year. The demonstration broke up after Iraqi police fired in the air. The crowds had gathered in front of blast barriers where U.S. troops protect two major hotels.

 

Larry Kaplow is an international correspondent for Cox Newspapers.

[General Duke]

Falluja: 'American graveyard'

 

Looking on as a crowd of cheering Iraqis desecrated the bodies of four civilians killed by insurgents, 12-year-old Mohammad Nafik said: "This is the fate of all Americans who come to Falluja."

 

 

"Falluja is a cemetery for Americans", militants warn

The town has gained a reputation, particularly in recent weeks, as being one of the most violently opposed to the occupation.

 

US troops have faced almost daily attacks there, and the recent killing and mutilation of four American civilian contractors - surrounded by a jubilant crowd - marked a new level of violence towards those who represent, or work for, the coalition.

 

Falluja is in a region that has become known as the "Sunni triangle" - a predominantly Sunni Muslim area in a country with a Shia majority.

 

The region also incorporates Saddam Hussein's hometown, Tikrit.

 

As well as being united by religion, there are also important tribal links, and it was from this region that Saddam Hussein (himself a Sunni Muslim - notionally at least) recruited his powerbase of support.

 

That goes some way towards explaining the anti-coalition hostility in the region.

 

After the invasion, the perks of being looked after by Saddam Hussein disappeared, and the confidence which came from being a powerful minority was replaced by the uncertainty of being simply a minority.

 

In Falluja itself there is a particularly deep-seated enmity towards the Americans.

 

 

 

Aril 2003: US paratroopers shoot dead 13 demonstrators

May 2003: attacks on US troops become a routine occurrence

Nov. 2003-Jan. 2004: attacks on three US helicopters kill 25

Feb. 2004: 25 killed in attacks on police station and civil defence compound

31 March 2004: four US contractors killed

 

 

Images from Iraq haunt US

Falluja anger on the rise

Two weeks after the invasion was complete, angry crowds gathered outside a makeshift American barracks in Falluja and shots were fired.

The US troops fired on the crowd and at least 15 Iraqis were killed.

 

The incident served as a flashpoint, igniting a series of attacks against coalition forces across the region.

 

Some of the attacks in Falluja since - or at least the support for them - can be attributed to a desire to take revenge for a friend or relative killed by coalition forces.

 

The US troops who have been responsible for security in the region have had an unenviable task

 

The Army's 82nd Airborne Division, which had responsibility for Falluja until mid-March, had increasingly left responsibility for patrolling the town centre to Iraqi police, and made only occasional forays into Falluja.

 

But US Marines have now taken over and adopted a much more high-profile approach to tackling the insurgents.

 

They have conducted raids on various parts of the town looking for weapons, and had frequent running battles with guerrillas.

 

Crossfire

 

Although several Marines have been killed, the Iraqi casualty figure has been much higher.

 

Some 30 are thought to have been killed in the last two weeks of March alone.

 

Many were simply caught in crossfire, and inevitably, that continues to fuel the tensions.

 

It seems likely that the Marines decided not to intervene in the grisly violence in Falluja on 31 March simply because the contractors were already dead, and entering the town risked making a bad situation even worse.

 

But the US administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, has said "the attacks will not go unpunished".

 

Further clashes seem inevitable, not least because the Americans cannot afford to have Falluja seen as a no-go area, successfully challenging their authority.

[General Duke]

Shia protests spread to Basra

 

 

Allies of Moqtada Sadr took over the governor's office in Basra

Supporters of a radical Shia cleric have taken over the governor's building in Basra, the southern Iraqi city under the control of British forces.

The arrest of one of rebel Shia leader Moqtada Sadr's aides sparked the protest which attracted 150 people.

 

Shooting broke out in Basra for the second time, with a 10 to 15 minute gun battle between British soldiers and militia leaving no casualties.

 

In Baghdad on Sunday, eight American soldiers were killed in gunfights.

 

And the wave of nationwide unrest has left around 30 people dead.

 

Basra 'calm'

 

Tony Blair's official spokesman said the violence was the work of a "small minority" of Shias and would not derail plans to give authority back to Iraqis in June.

 

The spokesman said: "In case the perception is that Basra is in flames, that is not the case.

 

"Basra this morning is calm, the UK troops are working in support of the governor and Iraqi police as they respond to the situation."

 

Mr Blair will meet the Iraqi foreign minister for talks at Downing Street on Tuesday.

 

Shia protesters, led by Sadr aide Sheikh Abdel al-Satar al-Bahadli brandishing a sword, occupied the roof of the governor's office at dawn on Monday.

 

 

We have a group under Moqtada Sadr that has basically placed itself outside the legal authorities

 

Paul Bremer

US administrator in Iraq

 

 

Profile: Moqtada Sadr

 

Reporting from the roof, BBC correspondent Dumeetha Luthra said they were chanting "no to America, we'll sacrifice ourselves to Sadr" and waving pictures of their leader.

 

Hundreds more protesters gathered outside the building.

 

Our correspondent indicated the men say they have delivered a demand for the release of Mr Sadr's deputy, Mustafa Yacoubi, to the British forces who control the Basra area.

 

She says the protesters claim to be engaged in a peaceful sit-in and though some of the men in the building have guns, none have been fired.

 

She added that policemen guarding the building appeared to have taken sides with the militia.

 

A Ministry of Defence spokeswoman confirmed the occupation had been peaceful and said talks were under way between the protesters and Iraqi officials.

 

Reuters news agency reports that the governor, Wael Abdul Latif, fled the building earlier.

 

Clash

 

 

Recent days have seen a number of demonstrations by followers of Mr Sadr, following the arrest of Sheik Yacoubi and the closure of Mr Sadr's newspaper by the coalition, which said the publication was inciting anti-US violence.

 

 

The protesters are demanding the release of an aide of Moqtada Sadr

 

On Monday, the US administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, outlawed the Mehdi Army saying the coalition would not tolerate an uprising.

 

On Sunday, Iraqi protesters were injured in a clash involving British troops after a peaceful demonstration in Amara.

 

The Ministry of Defence could not confirm details of Iraqi casualties but said there may have been fatalities .

 

A spokeswoman said a small group of Iraqis had attacked the soldiers with rocket propelled grenades.

[General Duke]

Iraqi Shias attack US-led forces

 

 

Moqtada Sadr supporters want US-led forces out of Iraq

Seven American soldiers have been killed in Baghdad in the latest round of clashes between Shia Muslim militia and US-led occupying forces in Iraq.

They died in a battle for control of public buildings in the Sadr City area that had been taken over by followers of a radical Shia cleric, Moqtada Sadr.

 

His supporters were involved in earlier clashes in Najaf that left about 20 Iraqis and two coalition soldiers dead.

 

Dozens of his supporters occupied the governor's office in Basra on Monday.

 

Moqtada Sadr is an increasingly outspoken opponent of the occupation.

 

Recent days have seen a number of demonstrations by his followers following the arrest of one of the cleric's top aides and the closure of his newspaper by the coalition, which said the publication was inciting anti-US violence.

 

People have crossed the line... This will not be tolerated

 

US administrator Paul Bremer

 

 

Profile: Moqtada Sadr

 

Most previous attacks on coalition troops had been by fighters drawn from the Sunni Muslim minority - who received favourable treatment under former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein - rather than the majority Shia.

 

The BBC's Barbara Plett in Baghdad says Mr Sadr's movement is generally seen as the most radical of the Shia religious movements.

 

She adds that a new front may have opened in the battle to pacify Iraq.

 

Two senior US congressmen have warned President George W Bush's administration that Iraq faces the possibility of civil war.

 

The Republican and Democratic Party leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Richard Lugar and Joe Biden, said the US should consider postponing the handing over of sovereignty on 30 June.

 

Stronghold

 

Dozens of men loyal to Moqtada Sadr - many of them armed - occupied the governor's office in Basra in a dawn raid on Monday but apparently met no resistance, the BBC's Dumeetha Luthra reports from the roof of the building.

 

Policemen guarding the building appear to have taken sides with the protesters who claim they are engaged in a peaceful sit-in, our correspondent says, and there is no sign of the UK coalition forces who control Iraq's second city.

 

 

 

The fighting in Baghdad broke out after members of a militia loyal to Mr Sadr took control of police stations and government buildings in Sadr City, the US military said in a statement.

 

It said militiamen attacked the soldiers with small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades in the heavily populated Shia area on the eastern outskirts of the capital.

 

As well as the seven troops killed, at least 24 were wounded while Iraqi casualties are unknown.

 

The Baghdad fighting came hours after a march by Mr Sadr's followers on a coalition force base near the holy city of Najaf ended in violence.

 

The protest took place outside Najaf's Spanish garrison where troops from El Salvador and other Spanish-speaking countries are also based.

 

It is unclear who fired first but a coalition soldier from El Salvador and one from the US were killed along with about 20 Iraqis. Many more were injured.

 

'Terrorise your enemy'

 

Following the Najaf violence, a spokesman for Moqtada Sadr said the cleric had called for an end to protests, asking his supporters instead to gather at his offices or in mosques.

 

"Terrorise your enemy, as we cannot remain silent over its violations," a translation of his statement said.

 

It was not clear whether this was an order for his followers to resort to violence.

 

The US administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, said protesters had "crossed the line and moved to violence".

 

"This will not be tolerated", he added.

 

In a separate incident on Sunday, the US military said two marines had been killed in the province of Al-Anbar, a hotbed of anti-coalition violence.

[General Duke]

 

Sadr's radicalism appeals to the young

 

By Roger Hardy

BBC Middle East analyst

 

 

The chief US administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, has said he will not tolerate the activities of the radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr.

 

 

Sadr is regarded as a dangerous hothead by older Shiite leaders

He was speaking after violent confrontations between the cleric's supporters and US-led forces in both Baghdad and parts of the south.

 

Mr Bremer told journalists that the cleric was, as he put it, trying to establish his authority in place of the legitimate authority, and that this would not be tolerated.

 

Moqtada Sadr has been a thorn in the Americans' side ever since they overthrew the Saddam Hussein government a year ago.

 

He is young, probably no more than 30, and his base of support is relatively small.

 

Yet he comes from an illustrious Shia religious family, and his fiery speeches denouncing the American occupiers of Iraq strike a chord - especially among the young.

 

US options

 

The Americans have never been sure how to handle him.

 

Their preferred option is that the most senior Shia religious figures, including Ali al-Ayatollah Sistani, should marginalise him.

 

Privately, there is said to be little love lost between the older men - who regard Sadr as a dangerous hothead - and Sadr and his supporters who accuse the religious elders of excessive caution.

 

But given the angry mood within the Shia community following the deaths over the weekend, the senior ayatollahs may be reluctant to speak out unambiguously against him for fear of seeming to take America's side.

 

The other option the Americans have is to act against Sadr themselves.

 

The latest crisis was triggered by their closure of one of his newspapers and the arrest of one of his senior aides.

 

The aide was apparently accused of involvement in the killing of Shia cleric Abdul Majid al-Khoei in Najaf a year ago.

 

But, as events over the weekend have shown, such actions only serve to inflame the feelings of Iraq's majority Shia.

 

Americans badly need this community's support in the run-up to the handover of power to an interim Iraqi government in less than three months' time.

[Som@li]

Mahdi Army in pics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[General Duke]

US death toll mounts as forces try to quell savage rebellion

By Patrick Cockburn in Baghdad

07 April 2004

 

 

Savage fighting raged across Iraq yesterday as at least 20 US soldiers were killed in attacks on the American-led coalition that reached a crescendo of violence not seen since the end of the war to overthrow Saddam Hussein.

 

At least a dozen US Marines were killed in the town of Ramadi near the Sunni hotbed of Fallujah, a US official said, when their position near the governor's palace in the city was attacked by dozens of Iraqis. The official said a "significant number" of Iraqis were also killed.

 

Five marines were also reported killed in fighting in an operation to get Americans into Fallujah itself, where four Americans were killed and mutilated a week ago. Iraqi casualties are unknown from those clashes because ambulances are not being allowed to enter the town. A further three US soldiers were killed in Baghdad. The latest confirmation of deaths meant more than 30 US troops have been killed since trouble erupted in three cities on Sunday.

 

There was also heavy fighting in the Shia cities of southern Iraq yesterday between supporters of the militant Shia cleric Muqtada Sadr and coalition troops. Fifteen Iraqis were killed by British troops in Amara on the Tigris river north of Basra and a further 15 Iraqis died and 35 were wounded in gun battles with Italian soldiers for control of the bridges over the Euphrates in Nasariyah. A Ukrainian soldier was killed and five wounded when two armoured vehicles were set ablaze in Kut, a Shia city south of Baghdad.

 

The war in Iraq has entered a new stage as the militia of the Shia leader Sadr, whom the US wants to arrest, has taken to the streets. Up to now almost all the attacks on the allies have taken place in Sunni Muslim districts such as Fallujah and towns north of Baghdad. For the first time most of the US casualties are being inflicted by Shia. The fighting over the past two days brings to more than 620 the number of American troops killed in Iraq since the war began.

 

In Baghdad there was a sense of the crisis spiralling out of control yesterday with the US having to face a new battle front against the black-clad militia of Sadr. He is believed to have moved to a house in an alleyway in Najaf, one of the two holiest cities for Shia Muslims. It would be impossible for foreign troops to arrest him there without provoking a violent and more widespread Shia reaction.

 

"My fate will be either assassinated or arrested," said Sadr, whose militia, the Army of Mehdi, has taken over the holy shrine of Imam Ali, whose golden dome rises in the centre of Najaf. In a statement, Sadr pledged: "The US-led forces have the money, weapons and huge numbers but these things are not going to weaken our will because God is with us."

 

It was impossible to reach Fallujah yesterday after it was sealed off by 1,200 US Marines and two battalions of Iraqi security forces. US commanders have pledged to conduct house-to-house searches to find and punish those who killed four US civilian contractors and hanged their burnt and mutilated remains from the metal girders of a bridge over the Tigris.

 

The main road from Baghdad to Jordan, which passes close to Fallujah, was closed yesterday by US soldiers manning a razor-wire barrier who waved vehicles on to a road which skirts the town. The scanty reports of the fighting said that marine combat patrols, supported by helicopter gunships, were launching reconnaissance missions but coming under fire from guerrillas.

 

"The city is surrounded," said Lieutenant James Vanzant, a spokesman for the marines. "We want to make a very precise approach to this. We are looking for bad guys in town." It is not clear where the five marines were killed, the official statement saying only that they died in Anbar province. This area, stretching from Baghdad to the Jordanian border, includes the towns of Fallujah and Ramadi and has a population of 1.25 million ­ almost all Sunni Muslims known for their Islamic and nationalist militancy.

 

The allies have tried to present Sadr as an isolated militant but the evident strength of his forces, making attacks in all the main Shia towns, shows that Paul Bremer, the US civilian leader of the Coalition Provisional Authority, has miscalculated badly in seeking or stumbling into a confrontation with him. On 28 March, Mr Bremer suddenly closed Sadr's newspaper, al-Hawza. He then arrested Mustafa Yaqubi, Sadr's lieutenant in Najaf, which in turn provoked demonstrations and attacks on police stations and government buildings in Baghdad and southern Iraq.

 

"Muqtada Sadr does not represent the vast majority of Iraqi Shias," Tony Blair said yesterday. "He represents a small band of extremists. But the events of the last few days shows that Sadr's men are well-organised, committed and able to tap into a general feeling of hatred among Shia towards the CPA." 7 April 2004 12:19

[General Duke]

Uprising in Iraq could derail Bush As US forces suffer another bloody day, Republicans turn on president

 

 

Julian Borger in Washington

Wednesday April 7, 2004

The Guardian

 

President George Bush was yesterday struggling to prevent the escalating violence in Iraq from engulfing his re-election campaign, after his worst political week this year triggered bipartisan calls for a rethink of US strategy there.

Fighting spread across the country as the US-led coalition fought a two-front war against Sunni rebels concentrated in the western town of Falluja and a radical Shia uprising in south and central Iraq.

 

Thirty American soldiers and 130 Iraqis have been killed since the weekend in Falluja, where heavy combat continued last night. Unconfirmed reports said US planes fired rockets yesterday, destroying four houses and killing 26 Iraqis.

 

US forces confirmed last night that up to 12 marines had been killed in Ramadi, 36 miles west of Falluja. Dozens of Iraqis attacked a US marine position near the governor's palace, a senior US defence official said from Washington.

 

Early today, the White House responded to the deaths by declaring that US resolve was "unshakable". Its spokesman Scott McClellan said: "We will prevail. The president was told that our troops are performing well. The president is proud of our troops."

 

In the southern Iraqi town of Amara, British troops killed 15 Iraqis in clashes with followers of the radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, and another 15 Iraqis died in fighting with Italian troops in Nassiriya. Bulgarian and Polish troops also suffered casualties.

 

Washington insisted yesterday that US commanders would have all the troops and resources they needed, and Mr Bush signalled once more that he was prepared to stake his presidency on defeating the insurgents. "There are thugs and terrorists in Iraq who are trying to shake our will," the chief White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, told journalists. "And the president is firmly committed to showing resolve and strength ... They cannot shake our will."

 

However, with even Republicans warning of the imminent danger of a civil war in Iraq, and the administration's handling of the terrorist threat under increasing scrutiny, the president's image as a wartime leader is taking a battering.

 

The news that Tony Blair is flying to the US next week for consultations has only added to the sense of crisis.

 

The White House yesterday insisted that the visit to New York and Washington had been planned weeks ago, but conceded that much of the agenda would be consumed by Iraq.

 

Mr Blair will find a president who is increasingly nervous about his re-election.

 

Opinion polls show Mr Bush's approval ratings eroding, despite spending $40m (£22m) on campaign advertising in the past month. A survey by the Pew Research Centre found only 43% of Americans thought the presi dent was doing a good job, down four points from last month and 13 points from January. The poll, taken before the disastrous weekend in Iraq, showed a majority of the population disapproved of the way Mr Bush had handled the situation there.

 

His national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, will defend his record tomorrow before a public congressional inquiry examining the September 11 attacks, but she will face a sceptical commission which has heard repeated charges that the Bush White House's preoccupation with Iraq overshadowed warnings in 2001 of an imminent al-Qaida attack.

 

The timing of the commission's hearings has proved a windfall for the Democrats, who have seized on the apparent disarray in the administration's policy.

 

John Kerry, the party's presidential candidate, said: "It is a mistake to set an arbitrary date, and I hope that date has nothing to do with the elections here in the United States. The test of a turnover of sovereignty is the stability of Iraq."

 

Edward Kennedy, his fellow Democratic senator from Massachusetts, described Iraq as "George Bush's Vietnam". Paul Bremer, the US governor in Iraq, said: "There is nothing in common with Vietnam." But Republican senator John McCain said Mr Bush should avoid the mistakes of the Vietnam war: "We have to tell the American people that we are in this for the long haul. We cannot say, as we did in Vietnam, that the light is at the end of the tunnel."

 

Other members of the president's party, raised the alarm over the emergence of the Shia militia and general unravelling of security. Senator Chuck Hagel, told the Washington Post the US was "dangerously close" to losing control in Iraq.

 

Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary, responded to calls for reinforcements by saying that the US military presence in Iraq was unusually high at 135,000.

[General Duke]

'I am ready to shed my blood'

 

Cleric surrounded by armed guards as Iraqis warm to uncompromising stance

 

Rory McCarthy in Najaf

Wednesday April 7, 2004

The Guardian

 

America's newest enemy in Iraq spent yesterday sitting in a back room of his cramped office on the corner of Najaf's Street of the Prophet, promising in apocalyptic tones an unparalleled fight against the American occupation.

Moqtada al-Sadr chose his refuge carefully. Here, the radical young cleric, whose supporters have staged violent demonstrations across southern Iraq for the past three days, is in the shadow of the holiest shrine in the Shia Islamic faith.

 

Earlier in the day he had moved out of his mosque in the nearby town of Kufa, gambling that the revered, golden dome of the Imam Ali shrine will protect him from America's threat of arrest.

 

To get to him, the Americans will have to fight their way through dozens of his armed men standing guard outside the office, dressed in black and bearing Kalashnikov assault rifles, spare ammunition clips and hand-grenades. They danced in circles when they were handed Mr Sadr's latest statement.

 

"I am ready to shed my blood for my holy city, my clerics and my society," wrote Mr Sadr, 30.

 

He described the American president as the "evil Bush", and demanded he hand power immediately to the Iraqis.

 

"If our dearest society is attacked we should not remain silent," he wrote. "Now the Iraqi society has become one body with all the sects against the power of evil and darkness. You should pray for victory against the enemies and let it be the first step to liberate Iraq."

 

His threats present the US military with an unpalatable choice: either commanders attempt to execute the arrest warrant issued for Mr Sadr and so risk a bloody battle in the heart of one of Iraq's most sensitive cities, or they let him be and leave his movement stronger than ever.

 

Yesterday his aides, a movement of young, populist clerics schooled here in Najaf, were in ebullient mood. "The American forces are very embarrassed," said Sheikh Qais al-Qazali, the white-turbaned chief of his Baghdad branch, as he walked through the back streets of the ancient city, bodyguard in tow.

 

"They didn't expect that Syed Moqtada had such a large base of support. And they didn't expect that the Iraqi society, with all its different sects, would be so supportive of Syed Moqtada," he said.

 

"This is an uprising, an intifada. It is a popular reaction and now we have to let society do what it decides to do."

 

Throughout the day, he insisted, Mr Sadr had received a queue of visitors offering support, among them tribal figures and representatives of the more respected clergy of Iraq's Shia faith, including, he claimed, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

 

A mediator also came with a message from the Americans, he said, asking Mr Sadr to present a lawyer to negotiate the charges against him, in which he is suspected of involvement in the murder a year ago of a moderate cleric, Abdul Majid al-Khoei, who was killed inside the Imam Ali shrine itself. The cleric rejected the apparent overture.

 

His armed militia, the Jaish al-Mehdi, or the Army of the Hidden Imam, yesterday controlled the area around the Imam Ali shrine in Najaf as well as Mr Sadr's own mosque in the town of Kufa, nearby. Local policemen have fled their posts and their stations are still occupied by the militia.

 

Further north in the Shia suburbs of Baghdad it is a similar situation. In al-Show'la, where American helicopter gunships fought with armed protesters on Monday, Mr Sadr's supporters had largely enforced a strike. Officials in Mr Sadr's localoffice said hospital doctors had been warned they would be punished if they did not treat injured militiamen. All schools were closed and even educated teachers spoke of their support for the outspoken cleric.

 

"Moqtada represents and expresses the opinions of all the Iraqi society," said Hassan Jasim, 35, the headmaster and Arabic teacher at the largest school in the neighbourhood, the Two Rivers boys' secondary school. "We welcomed the Americans and their slogans of democracy but what we see after one year is just another form of dictatorship." His particular grievance was that the thousands of dollars spent by contractors of the Americans refurbishing his school had resulted in shoddy work. He showed cheap ceiling fans, doors without handles, and badly flaking paint. "It's just corruption and the Americans wouldn't let us make any complaints. They told us to be silent," he said.

 

Mr Jasim and his colleagues in the staff room agreed that the appeal of Mr Sadr, the son of a respected cleric murdered by Saddam Hussein's agents in 1999, was that he, unlike the other leading Shia clerics, had spoken out publicly against the US occupation and refused to negotiate.

 

The young cleric's great strength is that for now at least he has captured a moment of acute frustration and desperation among a large slice of the population of Iraq's southern cities. Not all may support his radical and often violent agenda, but many appear to admire him for confronting the Americans.

 

Najaf itself is home to all Iraq's most important Shia clergy, most of whom, unlike the young radical, have a reputation for conservatism and caution. That approach still finds favour with some, who have watched Mr Sadr's protests only from a distance.

 

In a barber's a mile from the Imam Ali shrine, Jasim Saghir, 30, said his loyalty lay with Ayatollah Sistani, Iraq's supreme Shia cleric, who has been far more measured in his criticisms of the occupation. "You should not let appearances be deceptive," he said. "Moqtada is from our society and he is the son of a great cleric. But three-quarters of the Iraqi people follow Syed Sistani. It is his words we will obey."

[General Duke]

Falluja engulfed in fighting

 

 

Wednesday 07 April 2004, 13:25 Makka Time, 10:25 GMT

 

 

Mansur: Street battles are being fought in Falluja

 

Fierce street battles are raging in Falluja between resistance fighters defending the town and US occupation forces, who are launching missile attacks in and around residential areas.

 

At least 52 Iraqis have died in attacks since Tuesday in the besieged town which American forces completely sealed off on Sunday, according to hospital sources reported Aljazeera's correspondent Ahmad Mansur. More than 100 others, including children, have been injured.

 

Twenty-six of those killed were from one family.

 

Speaking live from a rooftop in the tense town, Mansur said the hospital is struggling to cope with the rising casualties.

 

"They are attacking residential neighbourhoods," he said as US warplanes swooped over the area and fired rockets. Intense gunfire could be heard from the streets.

 

"The residents of Falluja are asking where is the (US-appointed) Iraqi Governing Council," said an obviously shaken Mansur. "They are asking why the Iraqis are not protecting them."

 

"Residents of Falluja call on the Arab world to intervene and lift the siege on this town of 300,000. They ask where are the Arab leaders in this time," he said before throwing himself to the ground as a plane flew overhead.

 

Falluja has come under fierce US attack in the last three days as occupation forces sealed off the town, a hotbed of anti-occupation activity, in an effort to crush the resistance.

 

US marines tried for a third time to take control of the town but were forced to retreat.

 

The Aljazeera crew, including cameramen Layf Muftaq and Hasan Walid, sound engineer Sayf al-Din and correspondent Hamid Hadid, are the only media personnel inside the town.

 

Since the closure was imposed on Sunday, 91 Iraqis have been killed and dozens more injured.

 

US forces besieged the town after last week's ambush in which four American security guards were killed and their bodies mutilated and dragged through the streets by Iraqi mobs.

[General Duke]

US vows to wipe out cleric's army

 

 

Sadr's Mehdi Army is thought to have about 10,000 members

The US military in Iraq has vowed to "destroy" the militia which backs a radical Shia cleric responsible for much of the latest wave of violence.

US-led forces are already conducting operations against Moqtada Sadr's Mehdi Army, said a US military spokesman.

 

More than 100 Iraqis have died in three days of clashes in areas to the west and south of the capital, Baghdad.

 

About 20 coalition troops have also been killed, including 12 US marines in a single attack in the town of Ramadi.

 

 

Mr Sadr's Mehdi Army was created in the summer of 2003 and is thought to have no more than 10,000 members.

 

 

Other developments:

 

 

Ukrainian troops pull out of the southern town of Kut after clashes with Mehdi Army militants.

 

At least 36 Iraqis are said to have been killed in the past 24 hours in the flashpoint town of Falluja.

 

Four Iraqis are reported to have been killed by US air strikes in Baghdad's Sadr City neighbourhood - up to 60 estimated to have been killed since Monday.

 

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says there are no plans to send additional troops to Iraq.

 

Precise attacks

 

"In the central and southern regions of Iraq, the coalition and Iraqi security forces are conducting operations to destroy the Mehdi Army," US Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt told a news conference in Baghdad.

 

MEHDI ARMY

Named after Mehdi - the "promised one" in Islam

Created in summer of 2003 - the first Shia militia to organise on the ground

Fewer than 10,000 members

Ideology: defend Muslim faith

 

An arrest warrant has been issued for the cleric on charges unrelated to the current violence.

 

Map of recent uprisings

Mr Sadr is currently surrounded by his gunmen who appear to control the holy city of Najaf.

 

They also control the towns of Kufa and Kut.

 

US troops have kept out of those cities, but are trying to hunt down the militiamen in the mainly Shia neighbourhood of Sadr City in Baghdad.

 

"If he [Mr Sadr] wants to calm the situation... he can turn himself in to a local Iraqi police station and he can face justice," Gen Kimmitt said.

 

War footing

 

The action by the Shias was triggered by the closure of Mr Sadr's al-Hawza newspaper a week ago on the grounds that it was inciting violence.

 

The Shia-led violence has opened a second front for US-led coalition troops who had previously been confronting mainly Sunni supporters of the former Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein.

 

MAJOR US COMBAT LOSSES

6 April 2004: 12 marines killed and 20 injured at Ramadi

2 November 2003: helicopter shot down near Amiriya with 15 soldiers killed

23 March 2003: 29 soldiers killed at Nasiriya

 

 

On Monday the US launched a big operation to "pacify" the town of Falluja - in the Sunni triangle that has been the centre of opposition to the occupation.

 

The operation follows last week's horrific killing of four US contractors whose bodies were dragged through the streets.

 

US President George W Bush has insisted the US resolve in Iraq remains "unshakable", despite the clashes.

 

 

The White House is now back on a war footing, the BBC's Justin Webb in Washington reports, and Secretary of State Colin Powell has urged the nation to rally behind its troops.

[General Duke]

Map shows latest flash points in Iraq..

[General Duke]

Battle rages in Sunni Iraqi city

 

 

Falluja has been a centre of anti-US resistance

Fighting between US forces and Sunni Iraqi militants in the city of Falluja has killed at least 36 Iraqis.

Helicopter gunships have been bombarding targets in the city which is ringed by heavily armed marines tasked with "pacifying" the flashpoint.

 

Reports say that Falluja mosques are broadcasting a call for "Holy War" and armed women are among the militants.

 

US forces took action after four Americans were killed and their bodies dragged through the streets last week.

 

FALLUJA

Population: 284,500 (2004 estimate, World Gazetteer)

Predominantly Sunni Muslim with an estimated 70 mosques

Benefited from heavy investment in factories under Saddam

 

Hospital sources in Falluja said many more Iraqis were wounded in overnight fighting as marines moved into an industrial zone on the outskirts.

 

A correspondent for Qatari broadcaster al-Jazeera TV reported from inside the town on Wednesday that food supplies were running low and smoke was pouring from burning houses in the area of the marines' advance.

 

Reporting "fierce battles" in the east and north-west, he added that gunmen were fighting back with rockets.

 

Fighting has also erupted in other "Sunni Triangle" towns, with 12 US marines killed at Ramadi on Tuesday, while an unprecedented revolt by Shia Muslim militants continues to rage elsewhere in Iraq.

 

Call to war

 

The Associated Press news agency quotes witnesses in Falluja as saying that the mosques have been calling for a "jihad" as gunmen and marines fight running battles in the east of the town and in the centre.

 

Armed women were in the streets and some gunmen could be seen carrying mortars.

 

Abd-al-Wahab al-Qaysi, described as a local "notable", told al-Jazeera that local people were determined to resist.

 

"We have to hold out, fight and struggle," he said, speaking at a cemetery where victims of the fighting were being buried.

 

"This is our land. We did not attack America. It is America that attacked us. It travelled thousands of kilometres across the oceans to attack us."

 

The marine assault on Falluja comes after four US civilian contractors were ambushed there and their bodies mutilated and strung from a bridge by a mob on 31 March.

 

US commanders vowed to track down the killers and troops now in Falluja are carrying photographs of "a good many" suspects, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Tuesday.

 

"It will be a methodical effort to find the individuals who were involved," he added.