Fighters loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr shot down a US helicopter yesterday in fierce clashes in the Shiite holy city of Najaf that threatened to unravel a deal to end an up-rising 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 Shiite Islam, and most Iraqi Shiites react with outrage when clashes erupt near the sacred sites.
Sadr's supporters in Basra also took to the streets and threatened attacks unless comrades they said had been detained by UK forces were released. Armed followers of Sadr also took to the streets of Shiite areas of Baghdad.
A US military spokesman said the crew of the downed helicopter 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 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 Shiite 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 reporters.
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 3am.
"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 attack is an overt violation of the ceasefire agreement reached in June," the military said.
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 The US 1st Infantry Division, which had been in charge of security in the area, has recently been replaced by a force of marines.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.
In the mixed Sunni and Shiite 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 75km 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 yesterday in the town of Musayyib, near Mahawil.
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.
Also see story:
The combined effect of the monsoon, the outer rim of Typhoon Fengshen and a low-pressure system is expected to bring significant rainfall this week to various parts of the nation, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The heaviest rain is expected to occur today and tomorrow, with torrential rain expected in Keelung’s north coast, Yilan and the mountainous regions of Taipei and New Taipei City, the CWA said. Rivers could rise rapidly, and residents should stay away from riverbanks and avoid going to the mountains or engaging in water activities, it said. Scattered showers are expected today in central and
COOPERATION: Taiwan is aligning closely with US strategic objectives on various matters, including China’s rare earths restrictions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan could deal with China’s tightened export controls on rare earth metals by turning to “urban mining,” a researcher said yesterday. Rare earth metals, which are used in semiconductors and other electronic components, could be recovered from industrial or electronic waste to reduce reliance on imports, National Cheng Kung University Department of Resources Engineering professor Lee Cheng-han (李政翰) said. Despite their name, rare earth elements are not actually rare — their abundance in the Earth’s crust is relatively high, but they are dispersed, making extraction and refining energy-intensive and environmentally damaging, he said, adding that many countries have opted to
SUPPLY CHAIN: Taiwan’s advantages in the drone industry include rapid production capacity that is independent of Chinese-made parts, the economic ministry said The Executive Yuan yesterday approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion (US$1.44 billion) into domestic production of uncrewed aerial vehicles over the next six years, bringing Taiwan’s output value to more than NT$40 billion by 2030 and making the nation Asia’s democratic hub for the drone supply chain. The proposed budget has NT$33.8 billion in new allocations and NT$10.43 billion in existing funds, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. Under the new development program, the public sector would purchase nearly 100,000 drones, of which 50,898 would be for civil and government use, while 48,750 would be for national defense, it said. The Ministry of
UNITED: The other candidates congratulated Cheng on her win, saying they hoped the new chair could bring the party to victory in the elections next year and in 2028 Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmaker Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday won the party’s chair election with 65,122 votes, or 50.15 percent of the votes. It was the first time Cheng, 55, ran for the top KMT post, and she is the second woman to hold the post of chair, following Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), who served from 2016 to 2017. Cheng is to succeed incumbent Eric Chu (朱立倫) on Nov. 1 for a four-year term. Cheng said she has spoken with the other five candidates and pledged to maintain party unity, adding that the party would aim to win the elections next year and
RSS