Iraq: 14 killed, 130 injured in Najaf protest

Jerusalem Post ^ | Apr. 4, 2004 | ASSOCIATED PRESS

[yonif]

At least 14 Iraqis, including two soldiers, died and 130 people were injured during a protest outside a Spanish military garrison in the southern holy city of Najaf on Sunday, witnesses and a hospital worker said.

Two US Marines and three members of the Iraqi security forces were killed in violence elsewhere in Iraq.

In Najaf, shooting broke out after thousands of supporters of an anti-American Muslim cleric gathered outside the garrison of the Spanish troops.

The Iraqi soldiers were inside the Spanish base, according to witnesses.

A spokesman for the Spanish headquarters in nearby Diwaniyah, Commander Carlos Herradon, said attackers opened fire at around noon on the Spanish base in Najaf, and Spanish soldiers fired back. Assailants later regrouped in three clusters outside the base, and gunfire continued into the afternoon, he said.

Four Salvadoran soldiers died and nine were wounded the riot, the Spanish Defense Ministry said. No Spaniards were injured.

The crowd was protesting the reported detention of an aide to Muqtada al-Sadr, a Shiite Muslim cleric who opposes the US-led occupation of Iraq.

Some 5,000 people marched to the garrison of the Spanish military contingent in Najaf after hearing that Mustafa al-Yacoubi, a senior al-Sadr aide, had been detained.

Spanish troops in the area have said they had no information on al-Yacoubi's reported detention, and said they did not take part in any such operation.

Two Marines killed in Anbar

Two US Marines, both assigned to the 1st Marine Division, were killed as a result of separate "enemy action" in Anbar province on Saturday, the military said in a statement. One died the same day; the other died Sunday. The statement provided no other details.

The most populous city in Anbar, which stretches from Baghdad to the Jordanian border, is Fallujah, where four American civilians were killed and their bodies mutilated Wednesday.

A bomb exploded Sunday near a checkpoint in Samarra, about 100 kilometers north of Baghdad, that was manned by Iraqi Civil Defense Corps personnel, killing three and wounding one, workers at Samarra General Hospital said.

In the city of Baqouba, 50 kilometers northeast of Baghdad, a bomb exploded Sunday in the al-Rasool al-Adham Shiite mosque, damaging part of the building, but causing no casualties, said the mosque's caretaker Haider Yassin.

In southern Iraq on Sunday, rebels attacked an oil pipeline, rupturing it and setting the oil on fire, said Jamal Khalid, an official with the Southern Oil Company.

Firefighters were battling the blaze and expected to have it out within a few hours, he said. The fire will not affect oil exports, he added.

The pipeline links the southern city of Basra with Faw port, on the Gulf. Rebels have repeatedly attacked oil pipelines in Iraq.

[Kay Soze]

Reminds me of Somalia.

Not enough resources militarily.

Plenty politically but not enough militarily.

[jolie560]

...and the Iraqi civil war goes on, unstopped by any Iraqi resolve to confront it. Only a dictator can rule successfully in Iraq. A self-determinitive, elective system will not work.

[tessalu]

Have they ever tried taking a troop of exorcists to a hate filled crazy place like Iraq? I think it is about time for nothing else seems to work. It seems like the demons are working overtime there. I see pictures of them bouncing all over the place and even jumping up and down.

[Solamente]

They probably mistook Salvadorans for Spanish soldiers, thus the object was to rile up the "Madrid Street."

[WOSG]

"Muqtada al-Sadr, a Shiite Muslim cleric who opposes the US-led occupation of Iraq"

This jihadist a-hole is nothing but trouble... I wish he'd get killed in a 'work accident' one of these days.

[WOSG]

Spain showed their weakness and the jihadists are exploiting it....

[freedom44]

Al-Sadr is stirring mass problems in Iraq.

What is the solution?

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Four Salvadoran soldiers died and nine were wounded the riot, the Spanish Defense Ministry said. No Spaniards were injured.

The crowd was protesting the reported detention of an aide to Muqtada al-Sadr, a Shiite Muslim cleric who opposes the US-led occupation of Iraq.

Two US Marines, both assigned to the 1st Marine Division, were killed as a result of separate "enemy action" in Anbar province on Saturday, the military said in a statement. One died the same day; the other died Sunday. The statement provided no other details.

~ First Marine Division ~

 

 

 Prayers going out to the friends and loved ones of our fallen Marines,

and our fallen and wounded Salvadoran allies.

 

[MEG33]

Now they are saying 20 deaths,one Salvadoran and one American soldier.

[Dog]

3 Americans dead in Sadr City in Baghdad .....10 wounded in a ambush.

It's time Bremer does something here.

[Dog]

Hell they are roiting now as it is so we have nothing to lose.........it's time the young Sadr sees the inside of an Iraqi prison cell.

[MEG33]

Oh,my,time to turn on the TV.May the dead be gathered in God's arms ,the loved ones be comforted and the perps meet justice.

[Dog]

rioting.

[MEG33]

It's over that Shiite being arrested,I assume.

[Dog]

Or whatever pisses off Sadr this week.

[MEG33]

They closed down the Cleric's newspaper that spread lies and incited violence..thus inciting violence.I see a pattern here.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

10 to 1 , this is the Handiwork of the Iranian Mullahs!

[MEG33]

I just found Texas Country Reporter on TV...I think I'll take a break and listen to stories about good people.Hill Country Lavender is the story!

[monkeywrench]

No, it's time he meet his 42 Virginians.