Iraqi officials struck a local ceasefire deal with radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia yesterday after clashes in the southern city left 12 dead.
Fighting erupted in Nasiriyah late on Tuesday after police arrested two members of the militia. By the time order was restored, two soldiers, nine civilians and the commander of the city's anti-terrorist unit were dead.
"Everyone now agrees only government forces should carry guns on the street. Mehdi Army fighters have withdrawn and security has been restored," said former governor Sheikh Sabri Al-Remaidh, who took part in peace talks.
As night fell yesterday a strict curfew was still in place in the city, but police were patrolling the streets unopposed.
One of those killed was Lieutenant Colonel Jawad Abdel Kadhim, who had headed the city's anti-terrorist police, police and medical sources said.
"The clashes have killed two Iraqi soldiers and nine civilians," in and around the city, said Hadi Badr, Nasiriyah's public health chief.
Badr said that 91 policemen, soldiers and civilians had been wounded.
He said two Mehdi Army fighters received treatment in the city's hospital, but that other wounded militiamen were taken elsewhere.
Security officials said the fighting broke out after local police arrested two militiamen accused of targeting US-led and Iraqi forces with makeshift bombs and mortars.
A delegation from the Mehdi Army, which commands widespread popularity among Shiites in Baghdad and across the south of the country, demanded the police release the two men, but were turned down, sparking the battle.
"They burned all the vehicles in front of one of the provincial government buildings in the center of the city, but the governor was in another building next to it," Iraqi police Colonel Rahim Ali said.
Police moved quickly to close off roads leading into and out of Nasiriyah and declared a city-wide curfew in a bid to quell the violence.
Nasiriyah is in Dhi Qar, a province that is now considered stable enough for Iraqi officials to take charge of security without US or British oversight.
Meanwhile, US aircraft dropped leaflets seeking information about three US soldiers feared captured by al-Qaeda, as troops intensified the search despite a warning from the terror group that the hunt will endanger the captives' lives.
The US command said the searchers were trying to isolate areas where they suspect the captives may have been taken after the pre-dawn ambush on Saturday in which four US troops and an Iraqi soldier were killed.
"The captors don't have freedom of movement," said Major Kenny Mintz of San Diego. "If they have the soldiers, they can't move them from where they are. We're doing a deliberate search of the areas."
On Monday, an al-Qaeda front group -- the Islamic State of Iraq -- warned the US in a Web statement to call off the hunt "if you want their safety."
The warning could indicate that the presence of about 4,000 US and Iraqi troops in the thinly populated farming area 30km south of Baghdad is making it difficult for the captors to move the Americans to a secure location.
In a statement on Tuesday, the US command said US soldiers have questioned more than 450 people and detained at least 11 since the search began last weekend.
Trucks with loudspeakers were also roaming the area urging local residents to come forward with any information.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS