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| Iraq |
| US clashes with Mahdi Army |
| 2005-09-26 |
| U.S. troops clashed with Shiite militiamen, rekindling tensions between coalition forces and followers of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, as bombers killed at least 24 in other attacks. Nine people were killed, including five police commandos from the anti-terrorist "Wolf Brigade," when a suicide bomber drove an explosives-laden car into a police convoy in southeastern Baghdad. Twelve people were wounded. The Al-Qaeda Organization in the Land of Two Rivers, the group headed by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility for the attack in an unverified statement posted on an Islamist Web site. Seven others, two of them children, were killed and four wounded when two mortar shells exploded in a commercial street in the center of Samarra, north of Baghdad, police said. "The attackers apparently targeted a nearby Iraqi base but missed," said police captain Akram Kamel. Two civilians were also killed and another 68 wounded when a bicycle bomb exploded in a busy street in the mainly Shiite town of Hilla south of the capital. Later in the day, six civilians were killed and 19 others wounded as a car bomb exploded in the town of Musayyib, 55 kilometers south of Baghdad, local police said. Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy called for "an international conference on Iraq with all the political parties in Iraq, to be able to think of tomorrow so that Iraq remains one country and there will not be any partition by one side or the other." British Prime Minister Tony Blair admitted that the insurgency was proving more ferocious than he had anticipated, but nevertheless vowed to keep British troops in the country until they end their mission. "I didn't expect quite the same sort of ferocity from every single element in the Middle East that came in and was doing their best to disrupt the political process," Blair told BBC television. The prime minister however refused to confirm a newspaper report that Britain and the United States would present a blueprint to the Iraqi Parliament next month for British troops to begin withdrawing as early as May. "The time scale [for withdrawal] is when the job is done," Blair said. Clashes erupted in Baghdad's Shiite bastion of Sadr City overnight, with an Interior Ministry official saying 10 militiamen loyal to Sadr had been killed after Iraqi-U.S. forces entered the impoverished district in search of Mehdi Army leaders. The fighting follows a week of rising tension in the southern city of Basra between British forces and Sadr's outlawed Mehdi Army militia after the dramatic arrest and release of two British undercover soldiers. A U.S. military statement said the clashes lasted 90 minutes and Iraqi and U.S. forces killed "five to eight" armed assailants. No U.S. forces were hurt. "I am concerned about the events early this morning, but I do not believe this action reflects a pattern of change leading to more violence," U.S. Colonel Joseph DiSalvo, Commander of coalition forces in East Baghdad said in a statement. "I am working with Iraqi leaders in Sadr City to keep the situation calm," he added. "We're not confronting the enemy without orders from Najaf," he added, referring to the holy Shiite city which is home to Sadr, who launched two uprisings last year against U.S. forces in which hundreds of his militants were killed. In another incident involving the Mehdi militia, demonstrators gathered outside a courthouse south of Baghdad, calling for the release of 17 arrested Mehdi Army members, a lawyer said. U.S. forces also raided a Sadr office in the northern town of Kirkuk, according to sources close to Sadr. In other violence, gunmen in Baghdad got away with $850,000 dollars after holding up a Finance Ministry bus and killing two police guards, an Interior Ministry official said. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #7 Kill Sadar already. Hang his corpse from a streetlamp and show we mean fucking buisness. Enought of this State department nice, nice crap! We get more of our own people and good Iraqis killed that way! |
| Posted by: mmurray821 2005-09-26 10:17 |
| #6 Which meddling neighbor will be collateralized first? Iran or Syria? |
| Posted by: doc 2005-09-26 08:41 |
| #5 my dell does the same thign with the back button and double posting |
| Posted by: Uninetle Hupating2229 2005-09-26 08:18 |
| #4 It's long past time for Tater to join the ranks of the dear departed. Kill him--and do it openly, just as the Israelis do with Hamas leaders. Send a LOUD message to the Shia bastards associated with this pig that the adults won't tolerate his brand of obstruction anymore. |
| Posted by: mac 2005-09-26 05:46 |
| #3 Ouch! That double post is a mystery. It usually happens when I hit the "back" button instead of the Rantburg logo, after posting. Sorry for using a Mac (POJ). |
| Posted by: Vlad the Muslim Impaler 2005-09-26 02:31 |
| #2 I heard that al-Sadrites lead with their faces in street-fights. However, one at a time isn't enough. Bring out the napalm. |
| Posted by: Vlad the Muslim Impaler 2005-09-26 02:30 |
| #1 I heard that al-Sadrites lead with their faces in street-fights. However, one at a time isn't enough. Bring out the napalm. |
| Posted by: Vlad the Muslim Impaler 2005-09-26 02:29 |