Radical anti-U.S. Shiite cleric Muqtada,right, meets with Sunni tribal leaders from the insurgent hotbeds of Fallujah and Ramadi in Najaf Monday June 13, 2005. The meetings in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, south of the capital, seemed to be a sign of al-Sadr's desire to return to active politics after going into isolation last fall following clashes between his militia - the Imam al-Mahdi Army - and U.S. troops. (AP Photo/Mohammed Hato)
Radical anti-U.S. Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and Russia's ambassador to Iraq Vladimir Chamov, right, leave al-Sadr's home in Najaf Monday June 13, 2005. Ambassador Chamov was making the first visit by a Russian envoy to al-Sadr's office since the U.S.-led operation started in Iraq two years ago. (AP Photo/Mohammed Hato)
Russian Ambassador Meets Anti-U.S. Cleric
By ABDUL HUSSEIN AL-OBEIDI, Associated Press Writer
Mon Jun 13, 7:14 PM ET
NAJAF, Iraq - Russia's ambassador to Iraq flew to this southern city Monday for talks with radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, the embassy said.
Ambassador Vladimir Chamov was making the first visit by a Russian envoy to al-Sadr's office since the U.S.-led war started in Iraq two years ago, embassy protocol chief Ivan Zhurba said.
Zhurba had no details on the purpose of the talks.
Russia opposed the U.S.-led war in Iraq and President Vladimir Putin has said no weapons of mass destruction had been found in Iraq — Washington's major justification for launching the war against Saddam Hussein's regime.
Al-Sadr, who opposes the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq, has recently taken on a higher public profile after emerging from months of hiding following clashes last year between U.S. troops and his militiamen in Baghdad's impoverished Sadr City and Najaf, 100 miles south of Baghdad.
The talks come amid a raging insurgency that has killed more than 940 people since Iraq's new Shiite-led government was announced April 28.
Sheik Jalil al-Nouri, an al-Sadr aide in Najaf, confirmed the talks had started and that a delegation of Sunni tribal leaders from the volatile Anbar province towns of Ramadi and Fallujah were expected to meet with al-Sadr later.
"The meeting was held to develop the relationship between Russia and Muqtada al-Sadr because the al-Sadr movement is very influential and well known in Iraq," al-Nouri said, without providing further details.
He added that the meeting had nothing to do with al-Sadr's talks with the Anbar delegation.
The fiery cleric has been negotiating between Shiite and Sunni groups who have accused each other of killing clerics from each community.
U.S. Soldiers, Iraqi Forces Uncover Weapons
Iraqi police seized plastic explosives, high explosive material, detonation devices and other bomb-making materials from a house in the Al Bayaa neighborhood of central Baghdad on June 11. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Army)
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, June 13, 2005 – U.S. Third Infantry Division soldiers conducted a raid in southern Baghdad on June 11, uncovering a weapons cache that led to the arrest of several men, according to coalition officials in Iraq.
The soldiers - from A Battery, 1st Battalion, 9th Field Artillery - found 15 60 mm mortar rounds and one 122 mm artillery round in a barren field behind a small house. The cache was about 500 meters from a suspected launch site for rocket attacks against Camp Rustimiyah.
The soldiers also found $17,900 in U.S. $100 bills. Second Brigade Combat Team legal personnel were on hand to assist in proper evidence collection, which officials said can greatly affect the chance of securing a court conviction for offenders.
"The soldiers are good with evidence collection, but I'm making sure we preserve fingerprints and get pictures," said Capt. Margaret Kurz, 2nd Brigade attorney. "Pictures and sworn statements are everything in Iraqi courts - it's crucial that we get a picture connecting the suspect with the evidence."
After an explosive ordnance disposal team secured the mortar and artillery rounds, a man pulled his car into the driveway, and was stopped and searched by 1st Battalion, 9th Field Artillery quick-reaction force soldiers. He was detained after his car was found to contain several AK-47s and large-caliber handguns.
"The operation today was designed to disrupt the support network for the insurgency, and we've done that," said Army Lt. Col. Steven Merkel, battalion commander. "This goes a long way toward keeping our soldiers safe, and keeping the people of Iraq safe."
Also, with the help of the Iraqi people, U.S. and Iraqi security forces found a bomb maker, a terrorist financier and weapons caches in Baghdad on June 11 and 12, officials noted.
An Iraqi civilian told Task Force Baghdad soldiers about a roadside bomb emplaced on a major highway in southeast Baghdad on June 12. When the soldiers went to the site, they found wires running to the nose of a 155 mm artillery round.
The soldiers secured the area to prevent anyone from getting hurt, and called in a team of explosives experts. Fifty minutes after receiving the tip, the explosives team safely detonated the bomb.
"It is clear when events like this happen that the Iraqi people want Iraq to be a safer place for everyone," said Sgt. 1st Class Anthony Stimmel, an operations noncommissioned officer for 1st Battalion, 64th Armored Regiment. "They are stepping forward to make this country a better place, secure their own freedom and defeat the terrorists."
The man who provided the tip will receive a reward, Stimmel added.
Acting on another tip earlier, Iraqi police officers arrested three terror suspects - including two foreigners residing in Iraq illegally - and seized weapons and bombs from a house in central Baghdad on June 12.
The police captured three suspects at a house in the Mustansirya district of Baghdad. They also found three AK-47 assault rifles and two bombs hidden in the garage.
"The training and joint operations we have been conducting with the Iraqi police is really paying off," said Capt. Pedro E. Vazquez, an operations officer with the 720th Military Police Battalion. "I am certain the Iraqi people are watching with pride as the successes of the Iraqi security forces continue to mount."
On June 11, an Iraqi approached a patrol from the 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, and told them where a suspected bomb manufacturer lived.
The patrol went to the house in central Baghdad's Adhamiyah district and found an anti-tank missile in the initial stages of being made into a bomb. The soldiers took the bomb maker into custody.
"The citizen who told the Iraqi soldiers about the bomb maker saved the lives of a lot of civilians, soldiers and police officers," said Lt. Col. Clifford Kent, Task Force Baghdad spokesman. "It's another example of how terrorists' efforts to intimidate Iraqis are failing."
Earlier, a joint Iraqi and U.S. military police patrol noticed what appeared to be a roadside bomb with red wires leading from the device to a house 50 meters away.
When the patrol searched the house, they discovered two concrete blocks with munitions inside, 60 pounds of explosives, two bags of plastic explosives, and radios and pagers set up to be used as trigger devices for the bombs.
Iraqi police also found a mold to build more bombs, a map of Baghdad and another map of Baghdad's oil infrastructure, both of which could have been used to identify potential targets.
(Compiled from Task Force Baghdad news releases.)
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