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Sadr Urges Followers To "Terrorize Enemy"
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Sadr’s followers celebrate on a burning U.S. Army Humvee in Al-Sadr City (AFP)
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KUFA,
Iraq, April 4 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - After U.S.-led
occupation forces killed 20 of his supporters in An-Najaf and two
others during a raid on his office in Baghdad, Shiite leader Moqtada
Sadr urged his followers to "terrorize the enemy" because
protests have become useless.
"There
is no use for demonstrations, as your enemy loves to terrify and
suppress opinions, and despises peoples," Sadr said in a
statement distributed by his office in Kufa, south of Baghdad,
reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"Terrorize
your enemy, as we cannot remain silent over its violations," said
the firebrand Shiite scholar, although it was not clear whether he was
literally calling on his followers to resort to violence.
At
least 20 Iraqis and four Salvadoran soldiers were killed and 200
people wounded Sunday when Spanish-led troops opened fire at thousands
of Sadr’s supporters in the Shiite holy city of An-Najaf.
"There
are at least 20 dead, including two policemen, and 200 wounded in the
city's six hospitals," Dr Hassan al-Dulami, head of health
services in An-Najaf, told AFP.
In
Madrid, the Spanish defense ministry said four Salvadoran soldiers
were killed and nine other wounded in the clashes.
Occupation
forces fired at Shiite marchers, who were peacefully protesting the
crushing of two fellowmen by a U.S. tank on Saturday, April 3, the
arrest of Sadr’s top assistant Sheikh Mostafa Al-Yaqoubi and a ban
on Al-Houza newspaper, Sadr’s mouthpiece, Aljazeera satellite
channel reported.
The
U.S.-led occupation authorities claimed Sunday the arrest was in
connection with the murder of a rival Shiite scholar last year.
"Yaacubi
was detained yesterday in connection with the murder of Ayatollah
Abdul Majid al-Khoei," AFP quoted a senior occupation official as
saying.
Aljazeera
correspondent said the occupation’s attack was so fierce that he
compared what he saw to the 1982 Israeli atrocities in the Palestinian
refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila in Lebanon.
He
saw dozens lying wounded on the ground, including Shiite scholars,
amid the sound of explosions and gunfire on the main highway out of
the holy city.
Ambulances
rushed to the scene and the shooting lasted for more than an hour as
U.S. helicopters and jets flew overhead.
Today’s
confrontations are the most dangerous between the occupation and
Iraq’s Shiites since the invasion-turned occupation.
Baghdad
Rallies
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A supporters of Sadr (poster) brandishes his Kalashnikov while others chant anti-U.S. slogans in An-Najaf (AFP)
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U.S.
forces stormed Sadr’s office in the Sadr City suburb of Baghdad and
killed two of his followers in the process, reported the Doha-based
broadcaster.
Ten
people were wounded in clashes between American forces and Sadr’s
followers who seized three police stations in the Sadr City, AFP
correspondents on the scene said.
A
Humvee vehicle was destroyed and set on fire, and U.S. troops
evacuated another from the Al-Dakhel neighborhood of Sadr City.
Two
loud explosions were heard in the area as U.S. forces traded fire with
militiamen from Sadr's Mehdi Army in the Souq Mreidi and Al-Dakhel
neighborhoods of central Sadr City, an AFP photographer said.
Ahmad
Riad, a doctor at Al-Kindi hospital, told AFP that seven people were
taken to hospital with bullet wounds. Three more were lightly wounded.
The
Mehdi Army earlier stormed all police stations in Kufa and placed them
under their control.
Thousands
of Sadr’s supporters had blocked the entrance to the occupation
headquarters in the capital Baghdad.
Beating
their chests, the angry crowd denounced U.S. President George W. Bush
and waved swords outside the heavily fortified city-center
administrative compound.
"Down,
down Bush. Down, down America . Down, down Israel," chanted the
protestors.
Several
U.S. soldiers looked on from behind the cement barricades and razor
wire that mark the perimeter.
Two
U.S. military jeeps were forced to drive away when approached by angry
demonstrators, chanting "Yes to Islam, No to America , No to
Saddam."
The
protestors carried two coffins, draped in an Iraqi flag, of the Iraqis
they said were crushed by a U.S. tank late Saturday as protestors
tried to march on the occupation headquarters.
One
Killed In Basra
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Shiite protestors carry an injured fellow during clashes with Spanish-led troops in An-Najaf (AFP)
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An
Iraqi was killed and five others were wounded Sunday in clashes
between British forces and Sadr’s followers in the southeastern city
of Amara, hospital sources said.
"The
man was killed by a bullet in the chest fired by British soldiers and
there are five other people lightly wounded," Ghazwan Majid, a
doctor at Amara general hospital, told AFP.
The
clashes occurred in four neighborhoods -- Um Azayya, Al-Majidiya,
Al-Hussein and Hutteen -- in the centre of the town, 370 kilometers
(225 miles) southeast of the capital, an AFP correspondent said.
The
two sides traded fire with assault rifles and anti-tank rockets, he
said.
The
loudspeakers of Shiite mosques loyal to Sadr had called Sunday morning
for his followers to observe a strike.
"Loyal
people of Iraq , in protest at the detention of scholars by the
occupation forces, the decision has been taken to call a general
strike at all government institutions and schools, so we call on you
to answer this call," the loudspeakers blared.
The
scion of an illustrious religious family, Sadr has clashed several
times with U.S. forces since last summer but has intensified his
verbal barrage against the U.S.-led occupation since it closed his
weekly newspaper on March 28.
Young
Sadr’s widely revered father Mohammed Sadeq Sadr was assassinated in
1999, reportedly by the ousted regime of Saddam Hussein.
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