Shiite gunmen seized a police station Thursday in Najaf in the first outbreak of fighting since an agreement to end weeks of bloody clashes between U.S. troops and militia forces. Four Iraqis were killed and 13 were injured, hospital and militia officials said.
| It's a hudna tradition... |
Gunmen loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr took control of the Ghari police station just 250 yards from the Imam Ali Shrine, witness Mohammed Hussein said. The station was looted and police cars were burned. "We sent a quick-reaction unit to assist the policemen defending the station, but they were overwhelmed by al-Sadr fighters," Najaf Gov. Adnan al-Zurufi said. "We will solve this problem as soon as possible. We will ask for the help of the Americans, if necessary." U.S. forces were not involved in the clashes, and it was unclear whether the violence marked the end of the cease-fire in Najaf, mediated by Shiite leaders and al-Sadr’s militia, or resulted from police attempts to crack down on petty crime in the city.
| I heard on the radio that it was in reponse to the cops arresting some crooks, at which point their fellow tribals hollered "Hey, Rube" and the festivities were under way... |
Police and witnesses said trouble started when authorities tried to arrest some suspected thieves at the bus station near the main police headquarters. Masked attackers — possibly including militia members — responded with machine gun fire and rocket-propelled grenades near the headquarters building. One gunman was killed when police returned fire, and other fighters then attacked the building. Fighting later moved to the second police station. Al-Sadr spokesman Qais al-Khazali said he was trying to intervene and stop the violence.
| "I'm important! They'll listen to me!" |
"We are trying to convince them to stop shooting," al-Khazali said. "We are still committed to the truce." Two of the four dead were al-Mahdi fighters, and several others were injured, al-Khazali said.
| Gee. Golly. Wonder how they got mixed in with the crooks? |
In a sign of the ongoing threat, saboteurs blew up a key oil pipeline Wednesday, forcing a 10 percent cut on the national power grid as demand for electricity rises with the advent of Iraq’s broiling summer heat. The pipeline blast near Beiji, 150 miles north of Baghdad, was the latest in a series of attacks by insurgents against infrastructure targets, possibly to shake public confidence as a new Iraqi government prepares to take power June 30.
Barham Salih, 44, of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and an American favorite, announced Wednesday he would not accept the post of deputy prime minister for national security unless the powers were spelled out "appropriate to the position, sacrifice and important role of the Kurdish people," the PUK’s KurdSat television reported.
Following U.N. Security Council approval of the Iraq resolution, President Bush suggested a wider role for NATO in Iraq. However, French President Jacques Chirac raised objections, and the proposal lacks universal support in the Western alliance, already tied down by heavy commitments in Afghanistan. At the Group of Eight summit at Sea Island, Georgia, Chirac told reporters that, while he is "open to all discussion" on a NATO role, "I won’t hide it from you that I don’t think it is NATO’s purpose to intervene in Iraq." Chirac said NATO involvement "could only be envisaged" if the Iraqi government requested it. |