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Sadr Threatens "Martyr" Attacks Against Occupation
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"If we are forced to defend our cities, we will resort to martyr operations," Sadr threatened
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KARBALA,
April 23 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Iraqi Shiite leader
Muqtada al-Sadr threatened Friday, April 23, "martyr"
attacks against U.S. occupation forces, as two occupation forces were
killed in clashes with his supporters in the Shiite holy city of
Karbala.
Sadr
said his followers would "resort to martyr operations" if
U.S. occupation forces storm Shiite holy cities, reported Agence
France-Presse (AFP).
"If
we are forced to defend our cities, we will resort to martyr
operations and we will be human time-bombs which would explode in
their faces," he said at Friday prayers in Kufa just outside the
Shiite holy city of An-Najaf, surrounded by U.S. forces.
"We
have enough weapons and a large number of followers, and there are
many believers who are ready to conduct martyr operations," Sadr
told the worshippers.
"Until
now we had refused to do this," he said. "But if we are
forced to do it, we will."
Grand
Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the influential Shiite scholar, had warned
U.S. forces against taking the battle to the holy cities.
The
U.S. forces had issued an arrest
warrant for Sadr, allegedly on charges of killing
another Shiite scholar, and reiterated determination to crush his
Mehdi Army militias.
Iraqi
Jurists Association branded the arrest warrant as "illegal
and based on a lie".
Haidar
Aziz, an aide of the young Shiite leader, said Sadr "has agreed
to appear before court after the formation of a
legitimate and democratic government ."
Clashes
In
a related development, a Polish soldier was killed in clashes with
Sadr followers in Karbala on Friday, a spokesman for the Polish-led
multinational force was quoted by Aljazeera as saying.
Light
weapons were used in the clashes, Major Slawomir Walenczykowski said,
reporting casualties from both sides.
He
added that a Bulgarian soldier who sustained injuries in the Karbala
clashes died in hospital.
"One
Bulgarian soldier was wounded in the head. After he was transported to
the hospital, he died of his wounds," Walenczykowski said.
The
clashes lasted about 30 minutes, and left an Iranian pilgrim, four
civilians and five militiamen injured and destroyed an all-terrain
vehicle of the U.S.-led troops, witnesses and hospital staff said.
In
Sofia, the Bulgarian defense ministry said a Bulgarian patrol
returning to its base was attacked by mortar and automatic arms fire
and returned fire.
Five
Bulgarian soldiers were killed in a bomb attack in Karbala on December
27, and five have been wounded so far in April.
This
month, three U.S. soldiers were
killed during clashes with Sadr supporters near the
southern city of Diwaniyah, southeast of An-Najaf.
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