|
UK
Troops Raid Amara, Kill 20 Iraqis
 |
|
British
soldiers fire flares to help patrols in Basra (AFP)
|
AMARA,
Iraq, August 11 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Twenty people
were killed and 50 wounded overnight when British forces pounded
districts in the southern city of Amara, targeting strongholds of
supporters of anti-occupation firebrand Shiite leader Moqtada Al-Sadr,
who urged Shiites to keep on fighting even if he was captured or
killed.
For
three hours from 1:00 am (2100 GMT), British jets bombed three
districts of the southern city of Amara, reported Agence France-Presse
(AFP) Wednesday, August 11.
The
deadly raids have damaged at least six houses and cut off electricity
supplies.
"There
was appropriate force in a very targeted and precise manner. The exact
number of insurgent casualties is not known," British spokesman
Major Ian Clooney said.
The
operation was carried out in consultation with Iraqi authorities, and
leaflets were air-dropped to inform residents of damage caused by
"insurgent activities", he added.
An
official at Sadr General Hospital said 14 bodies were brought in --
fighters and civilians -- along with 35 wounded, three of them
children.
In
the southern Hussein neighborhood, one of those bombed overnight,
British forces used tear gas, witness Saad Kadhim Mohammad told AFP.
Sadr
supporters patrolled Amara, warning people via loudspeakers to stay at
home and announcing that they would impose a curfew from 7:00 pm (1500
GMT).
It
was the first attack of its kind since Thursday, August 5, when heavy
fighting broke out in the central holy city of An-Najaf between
Sadr’s Mahdi Army and US-backed Iraqi forces.
An-Najaf
Governor Adnan Al-Zofri said Friday, August 6, that US occupation
forces killed
400 Iraqis and detained 1,000 others in the bloody clashes.
However, the Mahdi Army said the figure is far below.
An-Najaf
fighting is part of a Shiite uprising in several cities across central
and southern Iraq. It is the second rebellion from the Mahdi Army in
four months.
Also
on Wednesday, at least four Iraqis were killed and 10 wounded, when a
device exploded in a popular marketplace in Khan Beni Saad, northeast
of Baghdad.
Reuters
said that at least 30 Iraqis were killed and 219 others wounded across
the war-torn country in the past 24 hours only.
Fighting
To Death
 |
|
"Keep
fighting even if you see me a prisoner or a martyr. God willing
you will be victorious," Sadr
|
Sadr
renewed Wednesday his call for his supporters to keep fighting US
occupation forces even if he was killed or captured.
"Keep
fighting even if you see me a prisoner or a martyr. God willing you
will be victorious," Sadr said in a statement carried by Reuters
news agency.
Sadr
said he still wanted Iraq to remain united and thanked "those who
tried to resolve the crisis peacefully".
Sadr
on Monday, August 9, insisted the fighting was imposed on his fighters
by the US occupation forces, vowing to fight the occupation of Najaf
until his
"last
drop of blood".
"I am an enemy of America
and America is my enemy until the Judgment Day," Sadr said,
rejecting calls a day earlier by interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi
for his men to lay down their arms and leave the holy city of
An-Najaf.
“The
occupiers must go, and then the democratic process can start in
Iraq," said Sadr. "I will stay here to support the fighters
and I call on all religious dignitaries to do the same."
Aged
about 30 and a prominent figure in a revered Shiite dynasty, Sadr does
not speak for all Iraq's Shiites but his tough anti-US rhetoric has
won him many admirers and swelled the ranks of his Mahdi Army.
Govt.
Split
 |
|
“I
call for multinational forces to leave An-Najaf and for only Iraqi
forces to remain there,” Jaafari
|
On
the other hand, Iraq's interim deputy president Ibrahim Al-Jaafari has
urged US troops to leave An-Najaf to end a week of fierce fighting,
appearing to open a split within the government over how to end the
crisis, Reuters said.
"I
call for multinational forces to leave An-Najaf and for only Iraqi
forces to remain there," Jaafari said in remarks broadcast on
Al-Jazeera television on Wednesday.
"Iraqi
forces can administer An-Najaf to end this phenomenon of violence in
this city that is holy to all Muslims."
He
told the Doha-based channel that the interim government should keep
"political bridges open" with Sadr and his loyalists.
But,
he said, the administration should resort to "extraordinary"
means if Sadr rejected the overtures and continued fighting.
In
a stark warning seen as a prelude to a feared massive attack on
An-Najaf, US forces called Tuesday, August 10, on An-Najaf residents to
evacuate their homes.
US
troops in Humvees drove through the center of the Shiite city, using
loudspeakers to call on civilians to evacuate the zone immediately and
on Mahdi Army fighters to drop their weapons and withdraw from the
city immediately.
Shiite
Official Killed
Furthermore,
a top official from a mainstream Shiite religious party was
assassinated early Wednesday in Mahmudiyah, south of Baghdad.
Ali
Saadi, former head of the military wing of the Supreme Council of the
Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), was shot dead around 8:00 am (0400
GMT), SCIRI official Mohsen Hakim told AFP.
Hakim,
whose father Abdel Aziz heads the faction, blamed "terrorists who
carry out attacks in the name of Islam" for the killing.
|
