Posted on 08/06/2004 9:59:19 PM PDT by familyop
NAJAF, Iraq - U.S. helicopter gunships and fighter jets pounded Shiite Muslim insurgents hiding in a sprawling cemetery yesterday in the most intense fighting in this holy city since the fall of Saddam Hussein. The U.S. military said 300 militants were killed in the past two days.
The clashes between coalition forces and militant Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army flared in Shiite communities across the country, killing dozens of other Iraqis, according to Iraqi officials and the militants.
The fighting, which began early Thursday, threatened to re-ignite the bloody, two-month Shiite insurrection that broke out in April - and the heavy U.S. response appeared designed to quash militia activity quickly and prevent a repeat.
The heavy battles came as the most powerful Shiite cleric in Iraq, Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini al-Sistani, arrived in Britain to receive medical treatment for what an aide called ``a health crisis'' involving his heart.
The 73-year-old ayatollah, who holds enormous influence among Iraq's Shiite majority, has played a largely moderating role, urging Shiites not to resort to anti-U.S. violence, and, during al-Sadr's first uprising, he played a role in trying to calm the crisis.
Al-Sadr aides called for a return to the truces that have kept relative calm for the past two months, and other Shiite leaders were trying to restore a cease-fire.
The Iraqi government said it was determined to crush all militias in the country, including the Mahdi Army, and Najaf Gov. Adnan al-Zurufi gave the insurgents 24 hours to leave the city.
Intense fighting before dawn yesterday hit Baghdad's Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City, where 20 people were killed and 114 wounded during two days of fighting, the Health Ministry said. Separate attacks blamed on al-Sadr's followers wounded 15 American soldiers in Baghdad, the U.S. military said.
The Najaf fighting dwarfed the clashes seen in the spring, residents said.
Two U.S. Marines and an American soldier were killed in Najaf on Thursday, and 12 troops were wounded, the military said. The two days of fighting in Najaf also killed at least 13 civilians and wounded 58 others, according to hospital officials.
Gunfire and explosions rocked the city yesterday as helicopters flew overhead. The streets were nearly deserted. Shops were closed, and some residents near the cemetery fled with their belongings on carts.
Jesus. A headline that full of propagadna speak should have people fired and butts in streets.
Just out of curiosity - are there any non-Holy cities anywhere in the entire middle east?
Those are both good points.
This one has more holes today than it did yesteray.
Mecca and Medina ??....
...(just a wild guess on my part)...
U.S. helicopter gunships and fighter jets pounded Shiite Muslim insurgents hiding in a sprawling cemetery
In a cemetery, one step closer to the afterlife. No long funeral procession required.
um... been watching too many cartoons I guess.... shut up Mutly
"This one has more holes today than it did yesteray."
Good one!!
I have decided that Irving Texas is now a holy city.
Why are we calling it a "Holy" City? Why do they still have a "Holy" City - it should just be a HOLE!
Proper application of ordnance will hopefully make em all holier........
Why is it a holy city when we strike it but not a holy city when they shoot from it?
The city is getting the beMohommad bombed out of it.
Yep, it's all Dubyas fault.
Ok, so why have the Iranians decided to use their boy in Iraq again now?
Since the leading Shia senior cleric refuses to back Al Sadr, and since one of the powerful local sheiks has even sent out his own men to take hostages away from Sadr's men, it is safe to say that this "danger" of a Shia uprising is wishful thinking by AP reporters who are desperate for the U.S. to lose.
It's OK. We used holy bombs.
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