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Clashes threaten to reignite Shi'ite rising in Iraq Followers of rebel cleric Moqtada al-Sadr shot down a U.S. helicopter on Thursday in the Iraqi city of Najaf and two were killed by British troops in Basra in clashes that threatened to reignite a Shi'ite uprising.
The fighting in Najaf was the heaviest in the city since a rebellion by Sadr's followers 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.
"Coalition forces were attacked with small arms fire and returned fire, killing two enemy fighters," a British military spokeswoman said, adding that no British soldiers were wounded.
Later on Thursday a spokesman for Sadr, Sheikh Mahmoud al-Sudani, called for the restoration of a truce agreed in June between Sadr's forces and U.S. troops.
That agreement ended weeks of fighting that killed hundreds of Iraqis in April and May. Under the truce, U.S. troops said they would not enter parts of Najaf. There was no immediate word of a response from U.S. forces.
Guerrillas had earlier attacked a U.S. convoy near Najaf with a rocket-propelled grenade and small arms fire, killing one American soldier and wounding five, the U.S. military said.
Clashes also broke out in impoverished Shi'ite areas of Baghdad. A spokesman for Sadr in Baghdad said one militiaman was killed in the clashes with U.S. troops.
The U.S. military said the crew of the downed helicopter in Najaf were wounded and evacuated. Sadr's aides said the cleric's Mehdi Army militia had shot down the aircraft.
Iraq's health ministry said at least three civilians were killed in the Najaf fighting -- including an ambulance driver whose ambulance was hit -- and 25 wounded.
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 U.S. military said the fighting began at about 3 a.m. (2300 GMT Wednesday) when "a significant number of aggressors" believed to be Mehdi Army militia attacked a police station with machineguns, rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and small arms.
"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."
Sadr's aides said U.S. forces and Iraqi police had attacked first, adding that buildings near Najaf's revered Imam Ali shrine had been damaged, though the shrine itself was not hit.
The U.S. 1st Infantry Division, which had been in charge of security in Najaf, has recently been replaced by U.S. marines. An arrest warrant has been issued for Sadr in connection with the murder of a rival cleric in Najaf last year. But during the truce negotiations with Sadr earlier this year, Iraqi officials said they would not seek his arrest. Asked whether Sadr would face arrest, Iraqi Interior Minister Falah al-Naqib said: "We will arrest anybody disturbing the security of Iraq." He said Iraq's new government would impose martial law if necessary to stamp out violence. 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 75 km (40 miles) south of Baghdad, and 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. Police and Iraqi National Guardsmen have been frequent targets of bomb attacks by guerrillas opposed to the U.S.-backed government and the presence of U.S.-led troops in Iraq. 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 U.S. strikes in Falluja. Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport Company, their employer, issued a statement on Wednesday urging the kidnappers to resume talks with tribal leader Sheikh Hisham al-Dulaymi, who has been mediating. The guerrillas had accused the firm of not taking them seriously. 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. Iraqi militants killed a Turkish truck driver and two more are missing, Turkey's Foreign Ministry said. A ministry official told Reuters Osman Alisan's body had been identified in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. Earlier, NTV television reported that Alisan had been shot dead on Monday in Filfayl, about 70 km (40 miles) from the Turkish border, after delivering fuel oil to U.S. forces. The Iraqi governor of Anbar province, a volatile area that includes the cities of Falluja and Ramadi, told reporters on Thursday he was resigning as demanded by kidnappers who seized three of his sons in a raid on his house last week. A video aired on Abu Dhabi TV showed the governor announcing his resignation, sitting under a flag of the Tawhid and Jihad Group, before being reunited in tearful embraces with his sons. |
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