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Iraqi
Resistance Against Occupation Unabated
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Iraqis
are determined to defend their country against occupation
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AS-SALIYAH,
Qatar, April 17 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - In a new
indication that the Iraqi resistance against the Anglo-American
occupation has not died with the sudden vanish of the Iraqi regime and
regular army forces, U.S. and British forces came under attack in
northern and southern Iraq Thursday, April 17.
Admitting
the new resistance attack, the U.S. Central Command said several Iraqi
resistance fighters were killed and around 100 others captured.
U.S.
forces engaged in a firefight north of Baghdad while British forces came
under fire in the southern city of Basra, Brigadier-General Vincent
Brooks said at Centcom's war headquarters at As-Saliyah, Qatar, reported
Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"The
arrival of the Fourth Infantry Division's land component operations in
the area included a brief firefight in the vicinity of Taji airfield
north of Baghdad," he said at a news conference.
"The
engagement of the Fourth Infantry Division forces killed and wounded a
portion of the enemy forces, destroyed some T-72 tanks and captured over
100 enemy fighters," the general said.
"The
enemy force also had unmanned artillery pieces, armored personnel
carriers, loaded rocket launcher systems at a warehouse, and a number of
computers.
"The
site and the materials have been secured for further exploitation and
examination," Brooks said.
"The
coalition force declared the airfield clear of enemy force and continued
its attack to the north, encountering sporadic small arms fire and
snipers," he said.
"In
the UK sector of southern Iraq, patrols were attacked by rocket
propelled grenades near a bridge in Basra," reported the American
military spokesman.
On
Tuesday, April 15, Iraq’s Shiite authority Mohammad Mahdi al-Khalisi
called on Iraqis to act in concert and declare Jihad
against the American occupation forces.
"Now
that the idol (statue of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein) has been pulled
down, the occupation troops should leave our country. Iraq had gone
astray 40 years ago and it is high time it came home," Sheikh
Khalisi said in a statement, a copy of which was sent to by
IslamOnline.net.
"In
the name of all scholars and leaders of the Shiite Najafi revolution in
Iraq, who paid the ultimate sacrifice in defending Iraq against the
occupation of 1914 and 1920, I urge all Iraqis to stand shoulder to
shoulder to prevent occupation troops and foil malicious plots weaved by
Washington and London from looting the fruits of such sacrifices,"
Khalisi wrote.
Urging
Iraqis to stroll together in the southern Iraqi city of Karbala, the
Shiite authority called for "rising above trivial matters and
taking the initiative to set up committees to run the country’s
affairs, provide security and services to the Iraqis, turn anarchy off
and regulate the Iraqi resistance."
Also
on Tuesday Eyad al-Samra’I, leader of Iraq’s Islamic party,
announced plans to forge a new front to liberate
Iraq from the U.S. occupation.
"The
setting up of this nascent front comes in response to the U.S. attempts
to form a new Iraqi regime of Iraqi exiles to achieve the U.S.
goals," he told IslamOnline.net over the phone.
More
Victims In Mosul
More
Iraqi civilians continued to fall to Anglo-American gunfire in the
northern Iraqi city of Mosul with the "coalition" forces
claiming to act "in response to threats."
"We
know that there have been small numbers killed in these engagements,
some have been wounded as well," Brooks said, admitting that there
were "some shootings that occurred."
"There
were some more that occurred yesterday in violent actions at a bank,
that involved police and also some coalition forces.
"A
two-way exchange of fire ensued, police were wounded by fire and Marines
were involved in returning fire," said the American military
spokesman.
Witnesses
say 15 people were killed and 28 wounded on Tuesday and Wednesday, but
Brooks did not give a figure, after saying earlier that up to seven
people were shot dead by U.S. troops on Tuesday when they fired on a
crowd of Iraqi civilians.
"Our
approach is deliberate, it's an effort to maintain law and order ...
it's in response to threats that are directed to coalition forces,"
he claimed.
"Our
coalition forces have an inherent right to self-defense," said
Brooks.
"There
are pockets still of lawlessness, violence and indications of deliberate
agitation to create those conditions."
Ceasefire
With Iranian Group
The
U.S. and British forces are trying to organize a ceasefire with the
Iraq-based People's Mujahedeen Iranian opposition group, Brooks said
Thursday.
"There's
work that's ongoing right now to secure some sort of agreement that will
lead to a ceasefire and capitulation," he told reporters.
General
Richard Myers, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Tuesday
Anglo-American warplanes had bombed
Mujahedeen camps in Iraq and that some fighters were expected to
surrender soon.
He
noted it was too soon to tell what effect the strikes would have on U.S.
relations with Iran, which President George W. Bush last year labeled
part of an "axis of evil" along with Iraq and North Korea.
Iran,
the United States and the European Union all consider the People's
Mujahedeen a terrorist organization.
The
group has frequently claimed responsibility for attacks and
assassinations inside Iran but says it only targets the military and
other elements of the regime.
The
People's Mujahedeen were given sanctuary by Iaqi president Saddam
Hussein in 1986, when they were chased out of Iran and he was in the
thick of a bloody war with his neighbor.
An
AFP correspondent who visited the Mujahedeen's vast camp Wednesday at
Falluja, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of Baghdad, found that its
fighters had deserted the isolated compound.
A
senior Mujahadeen official, Mohammad Mohaddessin, chairman of the
foreign affairs committee of the National Council of the Iranian
Resistance, confirmed the talks with the U.S. forces, though he did not
refer to a surrender.
"We
are trying to reach a mutually acceptable agreement and understanding
with them," he told AFP Thursday.
He
said he could not say where the negotiations were taking place or when
they might conclude, but added, "Our commanders are talking to
their commanders."
Calling
the bombing of Mujahadeen bases "astounding and regrettable,"
he said the Mujahadeen had been told by intermediaries before the war
that the United States did not consider them targets.
Mohaddessin
pointed the finger at Britain, whose embassy in Iran made the first
disclosure of the bombing, saying London "clearly" aimed to
"placate and offer a concession" to Tehran.
Referring
to Brooks' use of the term "ceasefire," he said at no time had
the Mukahadeen fired on Anglo-American forces, and they would continue
to refrain from confrontation.
Mohaddessin
described Falluja as "absolutely an administrative camp",
which the Mujahadeen had left after it was attacked on March 24.
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