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.
BACK IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD: The planned transit by the ‘Baden-Wuerttemberg’ and the ‘Frankfurt am Main’ would be the German Navy’s first passage since 2002 Two German warships are set to pass through the Taiwan Strait in the middle of this month, becoming the first German naval vessels to do so in 22 years, Der Spiegel reported on Saturday. Reuters last month reported that the warships, the frigate Baden-Wuerttemberg and the replenishment ship Frankfurt am Main, were awaiting orders from Berlin to sail the Strait, prompting a rebuke to Germany from Beijing. Der Spiegel cited unspecified sources as saying Beijing would not be formally notified of the German ships’ passage to emphasize that Berlin views the trip as normal. The German Federal Ministry of Defense declined to comment. While
‘REGRETTABLE’: TPP lawmaker Vivian Huang said that ‘we will continue to support Chairman Ko and defend his innocence’ as he was transferred to a detention facility The Taipei District Court yesterday ruled that Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) be detained and held incommunicado over alleged corruption dating to his time as mayor of Taipei. The ruling reversed a decision by the court on Monday morning that Ko be released without bail. After prosecutors on Wednesday appealed the Monday decision, the High Court said that Ko had potentially been “actively involved” in the alleged corruption and ordered the district court to hold a second detention hearing. Ko did not speak to reporters upon his arrival at the district court at about 9:10am yesterday to attend a procedural
‘UPHOLDING PEACE’: Taiwan’s foreign minister thanked the US Congress for using a ‘creative and effective way’ to deter Chinese military aggression toward the nation The US House of Representatives on Monday passed the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act, aimed at deterring Chinese aggression toward Taiwan by threatening to publish information about Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials’ “illicit” financial assets if Beijing were to attack. The act would also “restrict financial services for certain immediate family of such officials,” the text of the legislation says. The bill was introduced in January last year by US representatives French Hill and Brad Sherman. After remarks from several members, it passed unanimously. “If China chooses to attack the free people of Taiwan, [the bill] requires the Treasury secretary to publish the illicit
The Executive Yuan yesterday warned against traveling to or doing business in China after reports that Beijing is recruiting Taiwanese to help conceal the use of forced Uighur labor. The government is aware that Taiwan-based influencers and businesses are being asked to make pro-Beijing content and offered incentives to invest in the region, Executive Yuan acting spokeswoman Julia Hsieh (謝子涵) told a news conference. Taiwanese are urged to be aware of the potential personal and reputational harm by visiting or operating businesses in China, Hsieh said, adding that agencies are fully apprised of the situation. A national security official said that former Mainland
RSS