Double SECRET Probation.
Posted on 08/24/2004 7:14:06 AM PDT by TexKat
NAJAF, Iraq - U.S. and Iraqi forces battled militants Tuesday in Najaf, sending plumes of black smoke over the holy city, as Iraq's government warned fighters loyal to a radical cleric "they have hours to surrender" in their weekslong standoff inside the Imam Ali Shrine or face attack.
"The decisive hours are near," said Iraqi Defense Minister Hazem Shaalan.
Meanwhile, in Baghdad, assassins bombed the convoys of two Iraqi Cabinet ministers in separate attacks that killed five bodyguards but left the officials unharmed. The al-Qaida-linked militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's Tawhid and Jihad group claimed responsibility for the suicide attack on Environment Minister Miskhat Moumin in a statement posted on an Islamic Web site.
"We tell her and her gang that you survived today from our arrows, but there are many other arrows in the case that will not miss its targets, God willing," said the statement, whose authenticity was impossible to confirm.
In his threat to the militants at Najaf, the defense minister said guardsmen would use loudspeakers to urge the followers of firebrand cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to evacuate the shrine and surrender.
Addressing Iraqi National Guard troops in Najaf, Shaalan said Iraqi troops were working to cordon off the Imam Ali shrine.
"When your brothers approach the holy shrine compound, they will direct calls of mercy to those (militants) to surrender," he said. "They have hours to surrender."
Speaking of al-Sadr, Shaalan added that if the cleric surrendered, "he will be safe and will be highly respected. But if he continues to resist, then there will be no options for him other than death or prison."
Asked earlier if the operation could happen Tuesday, he responded: "We will give the humanitarian option a greater chance ... but if we run out of patience, then this will mean that the hour for the military plan has come."
U.S. helicopter gunships and Bradley fighting vehicles were attacking militant positions in downtown Najaf, and militants returned fire with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.
Witnesses said Iraqi forces accompanied U.S. troops into the Old City for the first time in recent days and were stationed about 200 yards from the shrine.
Iraqi officials have said that any raid on the shrine would be conducted by Iraqi forces. The presence of U.S. troops at the holy site would infuriate the nation's Shiite majority.
In other violence, assailants fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a U.S. patrol on Monday night, killing one soldier and wounding two others, the military said. The troops were evacuated to a U.S. military hospital, where one of the soldiers died.
As of Monday, 958 U.S. service members have died since the beginning of military operations in Iraq in March 2003, according to the U.S. Defense Department.
Both assassination attempts against the government ministers took place in Baghdad, as their convoys passed through the capital.
A car bomb exploded in the southern neighborhood of Qadisiyah as the environment minister, Miskhat Moumin, was passing, ministry spokeswoman Dalal Ali said. Four bodyguards were killed, said police, and hospital officials said at least two people were injured. Interior Minister spokesman Col. Adnan Abdul-Rahman said a suicide bomber was also killed.
The second attack, a roadside bomb targeting Education Minister Sami Mudhafar on his way to work, happened about the same time in the western Baghdad district of al-Khadra. The blast killed one bodyguard and wounded two others, police said. A surviving bodyguard said the minister was not injured.
Late Monday, U.S. warplanes bombed the area of Najaf's Old City, and fires lit up the night sky, witnesses said. Ahmed al-Shaibany, an aide to al-Sadr, said shrapnel from the attack hit the shrine's golden dome, one of its minarets and the compound's outer wall.
The U.S. military denied damaging the shrine; it said an air crew saw militants in the compound fire a rocket that clipped one of the walls and exploded 10 yards outside.
"We are not doing anything that could have caused damage to the shrine," Marine Capt. Carrie Batson said.
There was no independent confirmation of damage to the shrine, but violence earlier Monday ripped a chunk out of the outer wall of the compound. Explosions throughout the day shook Najaf's Old City, a mix of streets and narrow, maze-like alleys at the heart of much of the fighting. Militant medical officials said at least two insurgents were killed and four wounded.
Al-Hakim Hospital said two civilians were killed and two others injured, but more casualties were reported in the Old City and could not be reached by emergency workers, said hospital employee Hussein Hadi on Monday.
Al-Sadr, whose Mahdi Army fighters are behind the uprising, has not been seen in public for many days, and police drove around Najaf with loudspeakers declaring he had fled toward Sulaymaniyah in northern Iraq. Al-Sadr's aides denied that.
"Muqtada al-Sadr is still in Najaf and is still supervising the operations," Sheik Aws al-Khafaji, the head of al-Sadr's office in the southern city of Nasiriyah, told Al-Jazeera television.
U.S. warplanes also reportedly struck the volatile city of Fallujah early Tuesday. Witnesses said it was unclear what the target was, but they reported flames and smoke in southern neighborhoods.
The U.S. military, which routinely bombs what it describes as insurgent strongholds in the city 40 miles west of Baghdad, had no immediate comment.
The Najaf fighting, which began Aug. 5, has killed at least 40 Iraqi policemen, nine U.S. soldiers and dozens of civilian bystanders. The U.S. military says it has killed hundreds of al-Sadr fighters, though the militia says its casualties have been far lower.
In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said, "The government of Iraq and Prime Minister (Ayad) Allawi have said that the Mahdi militia should accept their terms for engaging in the political process and vacating the shrine."
He added that the Bush administration has made clear that U.S. forces will not be involved in a move against the holy sites.
(Corrects number of U.S. soldiers killed to nine sted eight)
Oh, goodie...another deadline. The Iraqi Government must be taking lessons from the UN.
Sounds familiar< sarcasm on >
Explosions heard in Baghdad.
The "daily deadline" is getting like the "bombs du jour."
HOw many hours? 24,48,96,10000?
"They have hours to surrender."
Big fat *YAWN*
Let us know when you are INSIDE the "shrine" and the current occupants are dead.
Our military
needs to take a bunch of tanks,
some special ops troops
and some cruise missles
and do sacred, special rites,
have a priest bless them
or something, sprinkle
them will Holy Water, then
we can honestly
say we are using
holy munitions out of
respect for Islam
when we smash this place
and take out these terrorists
who pose as "mullahs" . . .
I dare you, I double dare you, I triple dare you, i ....
An Iraqi platoon commander runs as shots are fired during a patrol by the specially trained Iraqi Intervention Force near Najaf's Imam Ali shrine August 24, 2004. Iraq warned Shi'ite rebels besieged in a shrine in Najaf to surrender or face an attack later on Tuesday that would 'wipe them out,' as government forces entered the battle zone for the first time. REUTERS/Chris Helgren
Part of a platoon of the specially trained Iraqi Intervention Force patrols near Najaf's Imam Ali shrine, August 24, 2004. Iraq warned Shi'ite rebels besieged in a shrine in Najaf to surrender or face an attack later on Tuesday that would 'wipe them out,' as government forces entered the battle zone for the first time. REUTERS/Chris Helgren
Armed Iraqi militiamen deploy near the office of their leader, radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, following clashes with coalition and local forces in Iraq's second largest city of Basra, August 24, 2004. Scores of Shi'ite militiamen took to the streets of the southern Iraqi city of Basra on Tuesday, brandishing assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades and demanding U.S.-led forces pull out of Najaf. Residents said the militiamen, supporters of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, had made roadblocks from burning tires. Iraqi governments National Guardsmen were defending the headquarters of the South Oil Company in the city, they said. REUTERS/Atef Hassan
An Iraqi soldier keeps watch during a patrol by a platoon of the specially trained Iraqi Intervention Force near Najaf's Imam Ali shrine, August 24, 2004. Iraq warned Shi'ite rebels besieged in a shrine in Najaf to surrender or face an attack later on Tuesday that would 'wipe them out,' as government forces entered the battle zone for the first time. REUTERS/Chris Helgren
Armed Iraqi militiamen chant in support of their leader, radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, following clashes with coalition and local forces in Iraq's second largest city of Basra, August 24, 2004. Scores of Shi'ite militiamen took to the streets of the southern Iraqi city of Basra on Tuesday, brandishing assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades and demanding U.S.-led forces pull out of Najaf. Residents said the militiamen, supporters of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, had made roadblocks from burning tires. Iraqi government National Guardsmen were defending the headquarters of the South Oil Company in the city, they said. REUTERS/Atef Hassan
Yeah, and THIS time they REALLY,REALLY mean it.
Didn't your Momma ever tell you never to let your mouth write a check your ass can't cash?
Iraqi troops keep watch during a patrol by a platoon of the specially trained Iraqi Intervention Force near Najaf's Imam Ali shrine, August 24, 2004. Iraq warned Shi'ite rebels besieged in a shrine in Najaf to surrender or face an attack later on Tuesday that would 'wipe them out,' as government forces entered the battle zone for the first time. REUTERS/Chris Helgren
What are you talk'n about?
Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari rejects a call for an international intervention to resolve the Najaf crisis, as Iraq's neighbors fear that the violence could spread outside Iraq, during a press conference at government headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq Tuesday Aug. 24, 2004. 'Iraq will not support or participate in any attempt to internationalize this issue because it is between the legal government and outlaws who threaten the security of the state and the general order,' he said Tuesday. (AP Photo/Samir Mizban)
Read your tagline for a change!
Oh, cyber tough guy, huh? Isn't it about time for you to kick your dog?
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