41 Iraqis Killed in Najaf, 10 Killed in Sadr City, 4 Killed in Kufa, At Least 6 US Soldiers Killed on Thursday

Thursday, May 6, 2004, 2:00 pm

Al-Manar TV, Al-Alam TV

The US occupation of Iraq entered a new dangerous phase today after US forces attacked southern Iraqi Shi'i cities of Najaf, Karbala, Kufa, and Diwaniya, where the Shi'i holy places are located. The US declared objective is destroying the Mahdi Army of the cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr.

The confrontations led to tens of deaths and more injuries among Iraqis. In Najaf alone 41 Iraqis were killed, according to US sources. In Sadr city, in Baghdad, 10 Iraqis were killed by US forces. Four Iraqis were killed by US soldiers in Kufa, all civilians, including a woman. Several Iraqis were killed in other towns and cities.

Today's confrontations is a mark in which the Shi'i Iraqis have joined Sunnis in resistance to the US occupation of Iraq.

The Iraqi counterattacks included a suicide car bomb near a US checkpoint on Al-Russafa Bridge in Baghdad, in which one US soldier was killed according to the US story, and four soldiers according to an Iraqi policeman who told Al-Manar TV. Several US soldiers were also injured.

Two US soldiers were killed and two were injured in a roadside bomb that destroyed their Humvee in Baghdad.

In Baquba, the office of Kurdistan Democratic Party, which is considered by many Iraqis as collaborating with the US occupation, was attacked with bombs, injuring several persons.

In Kirkuk, agricultural commissioner, Najib Muhammed, was killed and his wife was injured when attacked by armed Iraqis.

An oil pipe south of Baghdad was set on fire after being attack with explosives.

--------------------------------------------------

Battles at Holy Najaf as U.S. Takes on Shi'te Militia

Thu May 6, 2004 12:16 PM ET

By Suleiman al-Khalidi NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) -

U.S. troops attacked Shi'i militia forces around the Iraqi holy city of Najaf on Thursday, seizing the local governor's offices and killing 41 fighters, a senior official in the U.S. occupation authority told Reuters.

In what seemed a broad move against Iraqi Shi'i resistance across southern Iraq, U.S. tanks moved unopposed into the center of the nearby holy city of Kerbala, destroying offices used by the Mehdi Army militia of Shi'i cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

Reuters correspondents in Najaf saw and heard fierce battles in and around Najaf and the nearby town of Kufa. One saw U.S. tanks at the governor's building on Najaf's main street, several kilometers (miles) from Shi'i Islam's holiest shrines.

It was the boldest action yet against Iraqi resistance launched a month ago by Sadr. Aged about 30 and with a following among mainly young Shi'is, the cleric demanded Americans leave Iraq.

But rival Shi'i leaders have been increasingly critical of his stationing of thousands of fighters in the sacred city. He is wanted over the murder of a UK-backed cleric in Najaf last year.

In Kerbala, residents saw U.S. tanks blast away Sadr's offices with heavy machinegun fire before taking up positions in the center, about 500 meters (yards) from the main shrines. Italian forces said they fought Mehdi Army fighters south of Nassiriya, another Shi'i town.

Thousands of U.S.-led troops have been encircling Najaf and have fought Sadr's men elsewhere in recent days in the south, home to the majority Shi'i population that has grown impatient with U.S. occupation.

On Thursday, Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator of Iraq, appointed a new governor for Najaf and denounced Sadr.

Plumes of smoke rose from one area as U.S. helicopters swooped low overhead in Najaf. U.S. forces have said they will refrain from entering shrines or offending religious sentiment.

"We have resecured the governor's building and we intend to have the governor reoccupy it to have the coalition retake control of the city," the U.S. official said.

Correspondents said the Mehdi Army appeared to be counter attacking the governor's building. Lieutenant Colonel Pat White, a U.S. officer at the scene, told CNN: "We are getting contact from all sides and we are dealing with it now."

"I would liken it to a hornets' nest." U.S. forces advanced to the east of Najaf across the Euphrates river near Kufa, drawing out fighters and killing 41 of them, the U.S. official said. White said his battalion killed about 20 fighters after they moved out of a mosque at Kufa and fired rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and rifles.

SUICIDE BOMB

Earlier, in Baghdad, a suicide car bomber killed five Iraqis and a U.S. soldier outside the U.S. headquarters in an attack apparently claimed by a Muslim group with ties to al Qaeda.

U.S. officials said the checkpoint bombing bore the hallmarks of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, an ally of Osama bin Laden who they believe has been operating in Iraq. A claim issued on a Web site purported to come from an organization he leads.

Another group, the hitherto unheard-of Islamic Rage Squadrons, released a video on Arab television showing what it said was a blindfolded American civilian held hostage in Iraq.

Thursday's bomb wounded 23 Iraqis, including three policemen, and two U.S. soldiers at an entrance to the sprawling Green Zone, once Saddam Hussein's main palace compound.

The massive blast rocked central Baghdad 12 hours after President Bush appealed on Arab television for Iraqis to show faith in U.S. democracy and good intentions following revelations of murder and abuse of Iraqi prisoners by Americans.

First reported in January, the scandal blew up last week when photographs were published of soldiers, including a woman, tormenting naked Iraqis. The Washington Post published similar pictures on Thursday. Bush made clear, through aides, that he is unhappy with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld over the affair.

Violence has blighted Iraq since U.S. forces toppled Saddam a year ago, embroiling troops in increasingly bloody guerrilla war and complicating Washington's efforts to install a friendly and stable Iraqi government by a self-imposed June 30 deadline.

U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi arrived in the capital for talks on forming an interim Iraqi government in time for the handover.

ABUSE SCANDAL

The prisoner abuse scandal risks further hampering efforts to foster whatever Iraqi goodwill remains from the ousting of Saddam. Coupled with a rising U.S. death toll, the scandal is not helping Bush explain to Americans the benefits of invading Iraq as he courts votes for re-election in November. The Red Cross took the rare step of disclosing it had warned Washington repeatedly of shortcomings at Abu Ghraib prison.

Lieutenant Michael Drayton, who led a military police unit at the jail outside Baghdad, told Reuters his company killed at least four Iraqis during chaotic disturbances last winter.

"You got to understand, although it seems harsh, the Iraqis, they only understand force," he said.

Tales of maltreatment in U.S. custody have been commonplace among released detainees. Stewart Vriesinga of Christian Peacemakers, which has documented hundreds of cases, said: "What we're seeing now is probably just the tip of the iceberg."

Iraq | Politics | |