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Iraqi fighters shoot down US helicopter
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-08-05 21:31
Fighters loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr shot down a US helicopter on Thursday in
fierce clashes in the Shi'ite holy city of Najaf that threatened to unravel a
deal to end an uprising led by the radical cleric.
It was the heaviest fighting seen in Najaf since Sadr's rebellion in April
and May. The city is home to the holiest shrines in Shi'ite Islam, and most
Iraqi Shi'ites react with outrage when clashes erupt near the sacred sites.
A US
Marine helicopter is grounded in Najaf Iraq after being shot down
during fighting in the southern Iraqi city in this image taken from TV
August 5, 2004. A US military spokesman said the crew of the downed
helicopter were wounded and evacuated.
[AP] |
Sadr's supporters in the Basra also
took to the streets and threatened attacks unless comrades they said had been
detained by British forces were released. Armed followers of Sadr also took to
the streets of Shi'ite areas of Baghdad.
Sadr's aides said the cleric's Mehdi Army militia had shot down the
aircraft.
Iraq's health ministry said at least two people were killed in the fighting
and eight wounded. One person was also killed and four wounded when a mortar
round hit a hospital in the city.
An aide to Iraq's most revered Shi'ite cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, said
Sistani was receiving treatment in Najaf for heart problems and the clashes
could affect his health.
"There is fear that what is happening in Najaf might affect the medical care
he needs," Hamed Khafaf told Reuters.
HEAVY FIGHTING
The US military said fighting began overnight when a police station was
attacked by "a significant number of aggressors" believed to be members of the
Mehdi Army militia.
The statement said the attackers used heavy machine guns, rocket-propelled
grenades, mortars and small arms in an assault on the police station around 3
am (2300 GMT Wednesday).
Armed Iraqi Shi'ite
militiamen patrol a street in the impoverished eastern Baghdad suburb of
al-Sadr city, August 5, 2004. Hundreds of al-Sadr followers took to the
streets of the Iraqi capital condemning the fighting between US forces
and Sadr's Mehdi army militia in Najaf.
[Reuters] |
"Iraqi national guardsmen quickly
reinforced Iraqi police, and the two units successfully defended the station
from the attackers. Upon arrival of the marines, Mehdi Army members withdrew
into the city's exclusion zone," the military said.
"The attack is an overt violation of the cease-fire agreement reached in June
between coalition forces and Moqtada Sadr."
But Sheikh Mahmoud al-Sudani, a spokesman for Sadr, said US forces and
Iraqi police had attacked first.
As part of the truce agreed in June to end Sadr's uprising, US troops said
they would not enter parts of Najaf. The US 1st Infantry Division, which had
been in charge of security in the area, has recently been replaced by a force of
marines.
An arrest warrant has been issued for Sadr in connection with the murder of a
rival cleric in Najaf last year. But during truce negotiations with Sadr earlier
this year, Iraqi officials said they would not seek his arrest.
BOMB ATTACK
In the mixed Sunni and Shi'ite town of Mahawil south of Baghdad, guerrillas
detonated a car bomb and sprayed gunfire at a police station, killing at least
six people and wounding 24, Iraqi government officials said.
Interior ministry spokesman Sabah Kadhim said three masked gunmen opened fire
on the police station in the town, about 40 miles south of Baghdad, and then
fled. A bomb in a minibus then exploded outside the building.
Kadhim said two senior police officers were also shot dead on Thursday in the
town of Musayyib, near Mahawil.
Armed Iraqi Shi'ite
militiamen, followers of the radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, patrol the
streets of the eastern Baghdad suburb of Al Sadr city, August 5, 2004.
[Reuters] | Police and Iraqi National Guardsmen
have been frequent targets of bomb attacks by guerrillas opposed to the
US-backed government and the presence of US-led troops in Iraq.
On Wednesday, guerrillas fought street battles with police in the northern
city of Mosul after launching attacks on a police station, a power plant and a
hospital.
The US military said in a statement eight insurgents were killed during
about three hours of clashes, but more than 14 civilians had also been killed
and 31 wounded.
Last Sunday, a suicide car bomb attack on a police station in Mosul killed
five people.
HOSTAGE STALEMATE
There was no new word on the fate of three Indians, three Kenyans and an
Egyptian held by kidnappers who have threatened to behead them one by one. The
kidnappers want the Kuwaiti firm that employs the men to stop doing business in
Iraq and to pay compensation to the victims of US strikes in Falluja.
Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport Company, which employs the men, issued a
statement on Wednesday calling on the kidnappers to resume talks with tribal
leader Sheikh Hisham al-Dulaymi, who has been acting as a mediator. The talks
stalled after the guerrillas accused the firm of not taking them seriously.
Earlier this week four Jordanians and two Turks being held hostage in Iraq
were freed. A local tribal chief led a raid to free the Jordanians in the city
of Falluja, and the captors of the two Turks said they were being released.
Scores of hostages from two dozen countries have been seized in the last four
months. Most have been freed but at least 10 have been killed, sometimes by
beheading.
Turkish media said a Turkish truck driver was killed by guerrillas in Iraq
this week after his convoy came under fire. NTV television said Osman Alisan,
who had just delivered fuel oil to US forces in Iraq, was shot dead on Monday
in Filfayl, about 40 miles from the Turkish border.
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