Posted on 02/05/2007 5:58:37 AM PST by Valin
BAGHDAD, Iraq, (AP) - Two key members of radical anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's political and military organization were gunned down just days before the U.S. and Iraqi forces planned to open a massive security drive in Baghdad.
Ali Khazim, who ran al-Sadr's political organization in volatile Diyala province northeast of Baghdad, was killed Sunday by U.S. forces at his home in Howaider village, 12 miles east of Baqouba, Saleh al-Ageili, a spokesman for the Sadr Movement's parliamentary bloc, said on Monday. Provincial police confirmed al-Ageili's account. "What has happened to Khazim is part of the series of provocative acts by the occupation forces against the Sadr movement. The occupation forces know well who are the terrorists and their whereabouts, yet they are targeting our people," al-Ageili told The Associated Press.
The U.S. military did not immediately respond to telephone and e-mail requests for comment.
The second official, Khalil al-Maliki, a key figure in al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia in Basra, was killed by three gunmen in a drive-by shooting on Sunday in the southern city of Basra, police reported. He survived an assassination attempt in the city last year.
As many as seven key figures in the al-Sadr organization have been killed or captured in the past two months, at least three of them by U.S. forces, after Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, also a Shiite, dropped his protection for the organization — a crucial backer in his rise to power. The coming security drive, to which President Bush has dispatched 21,500 additional American forces, was seen as a last-chance effort to quell the sectarian violence ravaging the capital and surrounding regions.
Now that's a shame.
Good news!
They were "Gunned down". And a quick look - ah yes, its from the AP.
Oopsie!
pong
Unintentional humour.
Now the Sunni can't claim that the US is just going after Sunni terrorists. A terrorist is a terrorist.
hardly sounds worthy of a press/news story....
I'm surprised the AP didn't call them 'freedom fighters'.
Not really. Diyalla province is in the hands of Al-qaeda. literally! (that's were Zarqawi was found). 1000's of its shia and kurd inhabitants were forced out. Its probably the sadest part of Iraq.
He'll be missed. Hee hee hee!!!
A bad pro-Medhi Army Iraqi general that somehow got promoted up the ranks General Shakar is in large part responsable for that.
He and al-Qaeda started a sectarian war in that province.
Wonder how secure Muqtada al-Sadr is feeling today. And on another note, why can't AP at least pretend to be on our side? Allow me to rewrite that lead: "U.S. Forces today eliminated two key members of radical anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's political and military organization..." Gunned down makes it sound like gang warfare in East LA, which which both sides are at fault.
FINALLY!!
A start ... now for Mookie.
Because it isn't.
Excellent news.
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