Blood bath in Iraq....The Army of the Mahdi Join the resistance

[BN]

Salam,

 

Alhamdulillah the brothers of Iraq have joined together to fight these ifidels. Let us hope AlSistani lends his weight to this intifada as that would spell the end of the US occupation.

 

Wasalaamu Calaikum

 

Former Iraqi enemies unite to fight U.S.

 

Inside the Sadr office building, which was defended by about 100 armed and 400 unarmed men and boys, was cordoned off by the U.S. military, three obviously Sunni clerics arrived with a letter for the leaders of the Mehdi Army.

 

"We have come to see how our friends are doing," Sheikh Hudor al-Abari told United Press International.

 

Abari said he was representing the tribal sheik of the Anbar Province of Iraq, which contains the Sunni towns of Fallujah and Ramadi. Both cities are currently the scene of fierce fighting between U.S. Marines and the Army of Mohammed, an umbrella organization responsible for most of the anti-coalition violence over the last year.

 

Abari carried a letter from Sheikh Harrath Selman al-Tey, the leader of the largest Sunni tribe in Iraq and a man that holds massive sway over the Sunni triangle.

 

"The letter (to Moqtada Sadr) declares that we are the Army of Mohammed and all of Ramadi and Fallujah (offer) our army and people and souls and hearts and weapons under your command," he told UPI. "There is no more Shiite and Sunni, only Muslims and now we will fight each other no more and together fight the same enemy."

 

http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20040406-035654-8564r

[BN]

 

Iraqis head to Fallujah with supplies

 

Thousands of Sunni, Shiites backed by cars unite in march to bring food, medical supplies to besieged Fallujah.

 

 

BAGHDAD - Thousands of Sunni and Shiite Muslims backed by cars full of food and medical supplies headed on foot Thursday toward the town of Fallujah which has been besieged by US forces.

 

The protesters answered a call by Muslim groups for a peaceful march to carry supplies to residents of the Sunni town where dozens of Iraqis have been killed since US marines launched an offensive Sunday to wipe out insurgents.

 

"Our families in Fallujah, remember that our dead go to heaven and theirs to hell," read a banner held by the marchers who had gathered early Thursday at the Um al-Qora mosque in west Baghdad where people donated food, drinks and medicine.

 

"No Sunnis, no Shiites, yes for Islamic unity. We are Sunni and Shiite brothers and will never sell our country," they chanted.

 

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=9561

[General Duke]

US helicopter downed near Falluja

 

 

Tuesday 13 April 2004, 16:13 Makka Time, 13:13 GMT

 

 

Iraqi fighters vowed to resume clashes if US onslaught resumed

 

 

 

Shaky ceasefire underway in Falluja

Doctor reveals Falluja's horror toll

US attack belies Bremer's Falluja 'truce'

Plea to lift siege as toll mounts

 

 

Negotiations between US occupation authorities and the resistance in Falluja to maintain the shaky truce continued on Tuesday even as Iraq saw fighting in which a US helicopter was downed and a soldier killed.

 

 

The helicopter crashed near Falluja. Witnesses told Aljazeera that it was hit by ground fire during heavy fighting in the area.

 

US forces sealed off the area and prevented anyone from approaching the site. Another US helicopter arrived at the site to evacuate the crew of the downed helicopter.

 

The US military official said it had no immediate information on the aircraft, or on the fate of the two crew.

 

A US soldier was killed in a resistance attack on a convoy travelling to the southern city of Najaf in preparation to "kill or capture" Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr. Several other soldiers were injured.

 

Meanwhile, in Falluja a temporary ceasefire announced on Sunday was renewed late on Monday, said Iraqi negotiators.

 

 

A delegation representing the Association of Muslim Scholars (AMS) and the Iraqi Islamic party was sent to Falluja for a third round of negotiations on Monday. The AMS is the highest Sunni authority in Iraq.

 

 

The main sticking point is who will take responsibility of security after US forces withdraw, reported Aljazeera's correspondent in Falluja Abd Al-Adhim Muhammad.

 

Despite a truce, jittery US troops

fired on Falluja residents

 

Residents are calling for Iraqi police and civil defence units from the city to replace the troops.

 

On its part, US forces want to secure promises that they will not be attacked during the withdrawal.

 

The occupation besieged Falluja, 65km west of Baghdad, nine days ago in an effort to crush the resistance in the city of 300,000. Troops had completely sealed the city, preventing anyone from entering or leaving.

 

Civilian toll mounts

 

Since then, the toll among Iraqis in Falluja has topped 600 and another 1200 have been injured, according to medical sources.

 

On the ground, minor skirmishes have broken out since the ceasefire, but the situation has been relatively calm, reported Aljazeera.

 

Iraqi fighters in the Golan neighbourhood, the scene of fierce battles last week, continued to patrol the streets. They have vowed to resume fighting if occupation troops break the ceasefire.

 

Medical sources at Falluja's only functioning hospital said the main injuries being treated were wounds obtained from US snipers, reported our correspondent.

 

He spoke to civilians at the hospital who said they were fleeing the city when they came under attack. There were several casualties, including a child, the distraught father told him.

 

Elsewhere, mortar rounds slammed into central Baghdad's busy district on Tuesday, killing an Iraqi motorist, witnesses said.

 

One bomb landed in a busy street, killing a driver and gouging a crater in the road. Another sent smoke rising from the so-called Green Zone which houses the occupation headquarters. There were no reports of casualties. A third round hit a parking lot by the Tigris.

[General Duke]

Italians kidnapped in Iraq

 

 

Tuesday 13 April 2004, 16:28 Makka Time, 13:28 GMT

 

 

The four Italians are the latest hostages

 

 

 

Related:

Eight Iraq hostages freed

Fate of Japanese hostages uncertain

Russians taken hostage in Baghdad

Eight foreign hostages freed

 

 

Four Italian security guards have been kidnapped by a group calling itself al-Mujahidiin Brigades, Aljazeera television said.

 

 

The satellite channel aired a videotape on Tuesday showing the four Italians, with their passports, surrounded by armed men.

 

The group said on the video it would hold the Italians until their demands are met, including withdrawal of Italian troops from Iraq, the release of mosque Imams and an apology from Rome.

 

After the airing of the tape, Italy's Foreign Ministry said four Italians working for a security company had been missing since Monday.

 

The ministry said it had been contacted by the men's employer, a private American security company called DTS.

 

Italy's confirmation

 

"DTS security informed the Farnesina (Italy's foreign ministry)

that four of its Italian employees have been missing since

yesterday," a spokesman said.

 

"The news was communicated to the ministry by the American company yesterday evening," he said.

 

 

The Italians are the latest foreigners to be kidnapped in Iraq. Earlier, five Ukrainians and three Russians were released after being kidnapped on Monday.

 

Their captors reportedly released them after discovering they were Russians, according to Moscow media. Russia strongly opposed the US-led war against Iraq last year.

 

In other developments:

Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso on Tuesday advised Portuguese civilians in Iraq to leave the country because of the growing number of foreigners being kidnapped there.

 

France is strongly advising its citizens to leave Iraq and

warning people not to travel there

 

Kremlin officials advised the several hundred Russian workers in Iraq to leave, while one contractor - Russia's biggest in Iraq - said it was pulling out.

[General Duke]

Developments in Iraq

 

The Associated Press

4/13/04 9:05 AM

 

 

Major developments Tuesday in Iraq:

 

-- A 2,500-strong U.S. force pushed to the outskirts of the Shiite holy city of Najaf for a showdown with radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

 

-- A U.S. military H-53 Sikorski helicopter crashed outside Fallujah, but there was no indication anyone in the crew was killed or injured, a Marine commander said. U.S. troops blew up the downed craft to keep it from being looted, Lt. Col. Brennan Byrne said. Insurgents said they shot it down with a rocket-propelled grenade.

 

-- Four Italians working as private guards for DTS Security, a U.S. company, were reported missing in Iraq, the ANSA news agency reported. An Arab satellite TV network said the four were kidnapped by insurgents near Fallujah and showed video of them in a room surrounded by gunmen wearing Arab headscarves.

 

-- Eight Ukrainian and Russian employees of a Russian energy company who were kidnaped in Baghdad were freed, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

 

-- Two U.S. soldiers and seven employees of a U.S. contractor, including truck driver Thomas Hamill, were still missing after an attack Friday on a convoy west of Baghdad.

[General Duke]

US helicopter downed, rescue team attacked

 

Tuesday 13 April 2004, 17:16 Makka Time, 14:16 GMT

 

The MH-53 helicopter was downed by gunfire

 

A US MH-53 helicopter has crashed southeast of Falluja and marines who rushed to secure the crash site came under attack and sustained casualties.

 

A Marine officer said it was not known how many people were aboard the helicopter, which can carry up to 55 people.

 

He said the aircraft which crashed on Tuesday did not belong to the Marine Corps, but to another US government agency.

 

Witnesses told Aljazeera that it was hit by ground fire during heavy fighting in the area.

 

The officer said marines sent to the crash site, some 20km southeast of Falluja, came under attack and sustained unspecified casualties.

 

As the marines were taking the casualties to a trauma centre, they were ambushed by fighters firing mortars and rocket-propelled grenades and suffered more casualties, the officer said, without giving further details.

 

The crash came just two days after an Apache helicopter was downed by fighters in the same area with the loss of two crewmen.

[General Duke]

Iraqi clerics say coalition 'must pay' for crisis

U.S. general wants 10,000 more troops

Tuesday, April 13, 2004 Posted: 1346 GMT (2146 HKT)

 

The town of Macon, Mississippi, holds a vigil for hostage Thomas Hamill.

 

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- As Iraq's most powerful Shiite clerics warned the U.S.-led coalition that it "must pay" for the current crisis in the country, the head of U.S. Central Command asked the Pentagon for roughly 10,000 more soldiers.

 

In a statement issued Monday after a meeting with radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, the clerics and members of the country's religious authority also cautioned the coalition against doing battle in the holy city of Najaf, and warned against any attempt to kill al-Sadr.

 

"The current crisis in Iraq has risen to a level that is beyond any political groups, including the Governing Council, and it is now an issue that is between the religious authority and the coalition forces," the statement said.

 

"Those who have brought on this crisis must pay for what they have done."

 

Participating in the meeting was Mullah Mohammed Redha Ali Al-Sistani, the son of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani; Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Ishaq al-Fayadh, Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Sayid al-Hakim, Grand Ayatollah Bashir Hussein al-Najafi, Mohammed Sayid Redha al-Sistani and Sayid Ali al-Sibzwari.

 

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the recognized leader of the country's majority Shiite Muslims, is known to keep al-Sadr at arm's length. But the concerns voiced by the clerics Monday reflected a desire to avoid the kind of conflict in Najaf that was recently seen in Fallujah, where several U.S. troops and many more Iraqis died in recent fighting.

 

Al-Sadr is currently holed up in a mosque in Najaf, where his militia, the Mehdi Army, patrolled the streets Monday after negotiating to allow local police back into three of their stations. An al-Sadr deputy said the militia would allow the police to return only if U.S. forces left the area.

 

The battle with al-Sadr's forces began earlier this month, after the coalition shut down his newspaper, Al Hawza, for allegedly inciting violence and then arrested an aide on charges of complicity in the slaying last year of another Shiite cleric.

 

An Iraqi judge has also issued a warrant for al-Sadr's arrest in connection with the killing.

 

A top aide of al-Sadr, Sheikh Hazem al-Araji, was detained and questioned by U.S. forces and then released Tuesday, according to a U.S. Army officer.

 

"After questioning, we determined that he is not part of the violence and appears to have been a force for promoting discussion," 1st Armored Division commander Maj. Gen. Martin Dempsey said.

 

Al-Araji was on a list of al-Sadr associates wanted for questioning by the U.S. military.

 

Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, said Monday the U.S. forces' mission is "to kill or capture Muqtada al-Sadr," the phrase coalition military leaders use to refer to their missions against other so-called "high level targets."

 

Najaf, Kufa and neighboring Karbala are the only cities remaining under the Mehdi Army's control since U.S. forces put down al-Sadr-inspired rebellions in other cities over the weekend.

 

U.S. helicopter crash reported

A U.S. helicopter was seen by an Associated Press reporter burning on the ground outside Fallujah on Tuesday, and witnesses said it was hit by a rocket from the ground. There was no immediate word on casualties.

 

The helicopter was in flames on the ground 12 miles east of Fallujah near the village of Zawbaa, according to the AP.

 

An insurgent uprising stretching from Najaf in south-central Iraq to Tikrit, north of Baghdad, is making this month the deadliest one since the war in Iraq began in March 2003. With April not yet half over, at least 75 U.S. troops have been killed in hostile action; 26 of them died in fighting over the weekend.

 

For the insurgents, the toll is higher, according to the U.S. military.

 

Meanwhile, Gen. John Abizaid, head of the U.S. Central Command, said Monday he has asked the Pentagon for the equivalent of at least two combat brigades, roughly 10,000 troops, to handle the insurgents in Iraq.

 

"What I've asked for is essentially to have a strong mobile combat arms capability," Abizaid said at a news conference in Baghdad. "That's probably about two brigades worth of combat power, if not more."

 

Pentagon sources said that for three months that need will be filled by elements of the 1st Armored Division that had been scheduled to return home.

 

Counting the missing

Continuing the apparent insurgent trend in Iraq to kidnap and hold foreign hostages, the Arab-language television news channel Al-Jazeera on Tuesday aired video of what it said were four Italians who had been kidnapped.

 

The video showed armed men surrounding four men, who were seated and appeared to be holding their passports.

 

In another kidnapping, eight employees of a Russian electric power consortium in Iraq were released Tuesday, according to the company's executive director, Alexander Rybinsky. Five of the workers were Ukrainian nationals. The other three were Russian. They were all said to be in good condition.

 

Rybinsky said a group of masked armed men stormed into a company building in Baghdad on Monday, overpowering armed guards, taking nine employees hostage and then driving them away. One employee was later released. (Full story)

 

On Monday, seven Chinese men also were freed by their captors.

 

A group of masked men delivered the Chinese kidnap victims Monday to a group of Muslim clerics at a mosque in Baghdad.

 

Two Arab men working for aid agencies are also being held by militants, one a Syrian-born Canadian and the other a resident of Jerusalem. (Iraq hostage crisis intensifies)

 

There still was no word Tuesday about the fate of three kidnapped Japanese civilians who militants had vowed Saturday to burn alive if Japan did not pull its forces out of Iraq by Sunday.

 

The deadline has also passed for U.S. troops to withdraw from Fallujah, as militants holding U.S. truck driver Thomas Hamill demanded, threatening to kill him if their demand is not met.

 

Hamill -- a contractor for Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root -- was taken captive after an ambush on a fuel convoy Friday near Baghdad International Airport.

 

Six other civilian KBR contractors -- some of them Americans -- are unaccounted for after being ambushed over the weekend, according to the Pentagon. Two U.S. troops are also missing, the U.S. military said.

 

Also, three Czech Television journalists had not been heard from, a spokesman for the station said.

 

Other developments

 

Iraqi civilians continue to stream out of Fallujah. U.S. Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said that the situation in the town of 200,000 was calmer than it had been, but remained tense. After he spoke, firefights broke out Monday night after five Marines were wounded. Marines moved on Fallujah after four U.S. civilian security contract workers were killed and mutilated March 31.

 

 

President Bush, speaking at a news conference at his ranch near Crawford, Texas, with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, said the United States must defend ordinary Iraqis against "gangs that were trying to take the law into their own hands." Bush will hold a news conference Tuesday evening at the White House to discuss the situation in Iraq.