A radical Shiite Muslim cleric urged his militia yesterday to keep fighting US forces in Iraq even if he is killed, raising the stakes in a bloody confrontation that shows no sign of ending.
The challenge from Moqtada al-Sadr came as sporadic clashes echoed from the heart of the southern city of Najaf, where hundreds have been killed or wounded in the past week around some of Iraq's holiest Shiite Muslim sites.
PHOTO: REUTERS
"Keep fighting even if you see me a prisoner or a martyr. God willing you will be victorious," Sadr said in a statement from Najaf, where he is holed up with his fighters.
In fresh violence elsewhere, at least six Iraqis were killed and 10 wounded when a bomb exploded in a market just north of Baghdad, hospital sources said.
The fighting between US forces and Sadr's Mehdi Army in Najaf, part of a broader Shiite uprising in at least seven southern and central cities, is the toughest challenge yet for the six-week-old administration of Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.
The crisis also appears to have created cracks in Allawi's administration after deputy president Ibrahim Jaafari urged US troops to leave Najaf to end the fighting.
US forces have been pounding Sadr's militiamen in Najaf with warplanes and helicopters for days. The Iraqi fighters have taken sanctuary in the vast cemetery and inside the nearby Imam Ali Shrine.
Marines have cordoned off the area but have not made a full assault, a move that would enrage Iraq's Shiites. They have also said they were not hunting Sadr.
In the past 24 hours, at least 30 Iraqis have been killed and 219 wounded in five cities including Baghdad, the Health Ministry said on yetserday. The figure did not include Najaf.
US forces say they have killed 360 Sadr loyalists so far in Najaf, home to 600,000 people some 160km south of Baghdad.
Fighting erupted again in a Baghdad slum district called Sadr City where armed fighters have roamed at will. Two US tanks thrust into the suburb, pursued by militiamen who fired at least one rocket propelled grenade at the vehicles.
In the southern town of Amara, British troops backed by planes launched an offensive against Shiite fighters overnight.
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
RSS