Sat, Apr 17, 2004 page1

• US troops ready to strike at `defiant' Moqtada al-Sadr

  • REUTERS
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  US troops fought Sunni insurgents in Fallujah yesterday and stood ready to strike at a rebel cleric in Najaf, one of Iraq's holiest Shiite cities.

  A hospital official said 15 people were killed and 20 wounded in overnight clashes that erupted in Fallujah just hours after America's top general said truce talks could not go on for ever and more military action might be necessary.

  

  Iraqi Shiite cleric Abdul-Satar Al-Bahadi holds up a rifle while addressing yesterday's prayers in Iraq's southern city of Basra. Al-Bahadi said in his speech that all the Shiites in Basra are going to be the first in fighting the coalition forces in case they attack any of the Shiites' holy cities, including Najaf, where the radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is hiding from US troops, who have vowed to kill or capture him.

  PHOTO: REUTERS

  Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Myers said Iraq's US administrator Paul Bremer was using "multiple channels" in talks to pacify Falluja and avoid fighting in Najaf, where militiamen loyal to anti-US Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr control the city center.

  Polish officers commanding international troops in the Najaf region were unhappy at the prospect of an assault on the holy city by 2,500 US troops poised outside, Polish media said.

  Sadr, who is in Najaf, said Iraqis would hit back with unimaginable "force and severity" if US forces carried out their threat to kill or capture him.

  "Their threats to kill or detain me are a result of their weakness and collapse in the face of what has happened, and is happening, in Iraq," he told Lebanon's as-Safir newspaper.

  American warplanes attacked targets in Fallujah and a US armored vehicle was destroyed in the fighting, witnesses said.

  US Marines launched their assault on the city west of Baghdad on April 5 after the killing and mutilation of four US private security guards there the previous week. Doctors say more than 600 Iraqis have died in fighting in Fallujah since.

  A week ago, the US military said it had suspended offensive operations in Falluja but would hit back if attacked. Talks to stabilize a shaky truce have led to relative calm interspersed with intense bouts of fighting and air strikes.

  In the holy city of Kerbala, where Sadr's folowers have also taken control, three Iraqi policeman were killed in clashes with Shiite militiamen yesterday, witnesses said.

  British Prime Minister Tony Blair said ahead of talks with US President George W. Bush that they shared the goal of creating a stable, democratic and self-ruled Iraq, but refused to discuss whether they differed on how to achieve this.

  "How we get there is obviously the difficult issue, particularly with security at the moment. But our determination to get there remains undimmed," Blair said after meeting UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in New York.

  A Danish businessman in Iraq to set up a sewage business has joined the hostage list. Danish Broadcasting News said the man, in his 30s, was taken during a highway robbery, probably late on Tuesday, in Taji, north of Baghdad.

  Kidnappers demanding an end to the siege of Fallujah and the withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq have seized more than 40 foreigners, although many have been released.

  Italy has vowed to keep its troops in Iraq despite the videotaped execution of one of four Italian hostages held there.

  Scores of workers from Russia and ex-Soviet states waited for a flight from Baghdad airport on the second day of an evacuation organized after the kidnap and swift release of eight Russians and Ukrainians earlier this week.

  The US-led administration is due to hand power to an as yet undefined interim Iraqi government on June 30 and senior UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has been in Iraq to consult on the transition.

  Brahimi, due in New York soon to report back, said this week he was confident a caretaker government could be formed next month, but stressed that security must improve before planned elections could be held in January.

  April has been Iraq's bloodiest month since former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was ousted a year ago. The US military has lost at least 92 troops in combat since March 31 -- more than the total killed in the three-week war that toppled Saddam.

  Also see story:

  Blair says UN will be key for Iraq's transition to sovereignty
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