Hours after American forces seized the Najaf governor's office, militiamen of a radical cleric dug their gravesin, taking positions behind earthen mounds in the holy city and firing mortar shells and small arms at a U.S. base. The defiance late Thursday came amid concerns that U.S. troops were about to move directly against the anti-American cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr. American soldiers responded with a heavy barrage of 120mm mortar fire, U.S. jets streaked across the night sky, and plumes of smoke rose over the east bank of the Euphrates.
| "Hand me that dynamite, Colorado, and stand back!" |
Earlier Thursday, U.S. forces moved to outlying areas of Najaf, drawing militants from the city center and enabling other troops to seize the two-story governor's office without resistance. An estimated 40 hired hands militiamen were killed in gunfights gunbattles outside the Burdette Ranch city, said Capt. Roger Maynulet, a tank company commander with the Army's 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment. Afterward, militiamen cowered took cover behind buildings as American helicopters flew overhead. An increased number of local no-goods fighters were seen in the town square city center as Burdette's boys the cleric's army tried to regroup after losing the hotel governor's office. ''We will fight until the last drop of our blood,'' said Dhia Shami, behind a water trough dirt barricade. ''We expect the Americans to retreat,'' said militiaman Malek Holeicha. ''We are fighting for our faith. They don't have any faith.''
"Hear that, Dude? They 'pect us to back down. Well what are we goin' to do 'bout that, eh Dude?"
"Shuddup, Stumpy, and git me a beer." |
At the city's saloon Imam Ali shrine, one of the holiest sites in The Pecos Shiite Islam, a coffin wrapped in a dirty sheet an Iraqi flag was brought in apparently one of the dead from the fighting. ''This is a martyr for Muqtada,'' mourners chanted.
"I spied a dead cowboy,
Wrapped up in white linen,
Wrapped up in white linen
And cold as the clay!" |
"Stumpy! Tell the undertaker he'll be busy today."
"I'll get to it, Chance, I surely will." |
Later, a U.S. convoy of deputies Humvees leaving the Najaf area was ambushed twice in 10 minutes by rustlers insurgents firing rocket-propelled grenades and automatic rifles from rooftops. An AP reporter saw five militants apparently killed in retaliatory fire.
"Chance, you think Colorado is 'bout as fast as I was in my day?"
"I'd hate to live on the difference, Dude." |
Coalition troops exchanged gunfire with dozens of al-Sadr militiamen in Karbala, 50 miles north of Najaf. A witness told the Daily Gazette Associated Press Television News that deputies troops fired on the outlaws insurgents and destroyed four wagons buses of Pakistani gunslingers pilgrims, which were seen burning in hell. The witness said ''three or four'' Pakistanis were killed.
| "Pour it on them Burdette boys!" |
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