U.S. Forces Battle Insurgents, 33 Killed

AP ^ | Sep. 07, 2004 | AP

[Former Military Chick]

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. forces battled insurgents loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in the Baghdad slum of Sadr City on Tuesday, the U.S. military said. At least 33 people were killed and 193 injured in the fighting, Iraqi authorities said.

U.S. Army Capt. Brian O'Malley said several American soldiers have been injured, but that he did provide the exact figure.

The fighting erupted when militants attacked U.S. forces carrying out routine patrols, O'Malley said.

"We just kept coming under fire," he said.

Residents said loud explosions and gunfire could be heard across Sadr City on Monday night and that clashes spilled over into Tuesday morning.

A senior Health Ministry official, said a total of 33 people have been killed and 193 injured in the Sadr City clashes in the past 24 hours.

The renewed fighting came after several days of calm in the impoverished neighborhood after al-Sadr called on his followers last week to end the fighting and announced that he was planning to unveil plans to enter politics.

Al-Sadr led a three-week uprising in the holy city of Najaf that ended 10 days ago with a peace deal that allowed his Mahdi militia fighters to walk away with their guns. The combat in Najaf left thousands dead and devastated much of the city.

Since the Aug. 26 peace accord, many Mahdi militiamen are believed to have returned to their stronghold in Sadr City.

[katykelly]

My son is a Marine in Iraq.

[TexKat]

Have you guys noticed the glee on the faces of these idiots. Our guys are having to deal with these death crazed buffons.

[TexKat]

My son is a Marine in Iraq.

God bless him and bring him home safely and whole katykelly. I know how you must feel on a daily basis. My son is an Army soldier and has done 1 tour over there and will be going back in the near future. May God bless all our sons and daughters that are fighting for our freedom and the liberation of others.

[skeeter]

God bless him and bring him home safely and whole katykelly.

Roger that - God bless them. Ditto for my cousin in the 1st Cav and all the rest of our people.

They are our very best.

[TexKat]

Amen.

[Dubya]

Thanks for the ping.
Praying.

[oceanview]

indeed, they will be pulling out all the stops over the next 57 days against our forces to try and get Kerry elected.

[oceanview]

it makes you wonder why we can't easily spot these guys out in the open doing these activities and wipe them out with Apaches.

[oceanview]

and I will also add - we should also take out the reporters setting up these photo ops.

[TexKat]

British troops will stay the distance in Iraq

[TexKat]

it makes you wonder why we can't easily spot these guys out in the open doing these activities and wipe them out with Apaches.

Since it appears that they are so eager to die.

[Walkingfeather]

dont you wish we could have some kind of real time cell link implanted in the AP digital photographers cameras that would give us the image they are shooting in real time with GSP coordinates?

[TexKat]

dont you wish we could have some kind of real time cell link implanted in the AP digital photographers cameras that would give us the image they are shooting in real time with GSP coordinates?

After all these are mostly Arab photographers. The American ones are hold up in their hotel rooms, etc.. They know not to show their faces on the streets of Sadr City, Badgdad, Fallujah, etc.

[TexKat]

Scores killed in Sadr City battles as US death toll in Iraq climbs

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Bloody clashes between US forces and Shiite militiamen left more than 40 dead in Baghdad's Islamist stronghold of Sadr City, officials said, while 11 US soldiers were killed in a spate of attacks.

Smoke was rising and US war planes roared overhead as armed members of radical cleric Moqtada Sadr's Mehdi Army ran through the streets of the Baghdad slum after a night of fighting that left one US soldier dead and scores of Iraqis killed and wounded.

The Iraqi health ministry reported that 40 people were killed and more than 270 injured as a fragile week-long truce called by Sadr unravelled.

Militia fighters killed a US soldier and wounded two others Tuesday in a small-arms and rocket-propelled grenade attack in the sprawling Baghdad district, US Lieutenant Colonel James Hutton told AFP.

The soldier's death brought to 992 the total number of US military fatalities since the US-led March 2003 invasion of Iraq that toppled Saddam Hussein.

US tanks rumbled around the neighborhood and automatic fire echoed on Sadr City's main al-Shuhader Street. Four US military vehicles blocked off al-Hay square, site of Sadr's main office.

On side streets, Mehdi army soldiers, dressed in their trademark black outfits and civilian clothes, planted bombs in the road.

Hutton reported a string of attacks overnight on US forces in the den of the young radical cleric who has organised a thousands-strong army of young and unemployed Shiite men united under a banner of Islamic fundamentalism.

Sadr aide Sheikh Naim al-Qaabi said 15 Mehdi Army fighters were killed and 62 wounded in the strife.

"Last night was the most intense shelling of Sadr City since the Americans arrived in Iraq," he said, adding heavy aircraft fire lasted from 11 pm (1900 GMT) to 4 am.

"The people are defending themselves against the occupation forces."

There was no confirmation from the Americans about air strikes in the Shiite neighborhood. A mortar landed near a school as the battle raged, the military said.

An uneasy calm had reigned in the district since the end of last month's three-week revolt by Sadr against the Americans in the Shiite shrine city of Najaf.

Sadr's men had entered negotiations with the Iraqi government to disarm and enter the political arena, but his right-hand men complained the Iraqi government had started arresting its followers last week despite the talks.

As troubles flared in the Shiite slum, the US military was mourning its dead from a flurry of anti-coalition attacks around Baghdad Monday.

In addition to the US soldier killed in Sadr city, another three were killed in a string of attacks in the capital after a car bomb killed seven soldiers and three Iraqi national guard near the restive city of Fallujah Monday, the deadliest single strike in months for US troops.

The Fallujah attack was claimed by black-hooded men, gripping assault rifles, in the name of Jordanian fighter Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi's militant group, in a video obtained by AFP.

Meanwhile, Baghdad governor Ali al-Haidri narrowly escaped a bomb assassination attempt on his life that left two civilians dead, officials said.

"There was an attempt to assassinate the Baghdad governor," said interior ministry spokesman Colonel Adnan Abdul Rahman.

A police investigator on the scene in Baghdad's western al-Adel district said the bomb was a small booby trap device planted in a pothole, although the interior ministry described it as a car bomb. Some of Haidri's bodyguards were wounded, the governor said.

The deputy director of Karama hospital in Baghdad was also shot dead, the health ministry said.

And in the northern city of Mosul, the son of governor for the northern Iraqi province of Niniveh was assassinated.

Leith Dureid Kashmula, 19, was shot several times in the chest by unknown attackers as he was alone in his car in western Mosul, said Hazem Gallawi, media adviser for the governorate.

A Turkish truck driver was killed when insurgents fired small arms at some petrol tankers parked outside Abbasi, about 22 kilometres (13 miles) from the rebel bastion of Samarra, police said.

The US military and Turkish embassy had no information about the incident.

[TexKat]

Residents of Sadr City show cars that were run over by U.S. armored vehicles, Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday Sept. 7, 2004. U.S. forces battled radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's supporters in the Baghdad slum on Tuesday, killing at least 34 people, including one American soldier, and injuring 193. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)

Smoke rises over the central part the town of Falluja, following a U.S. army bombardment, September 7, 2004. U.S. forces and insurgents fought in Falluja on Tuesday, and shelling by American tanks forced some to leave homes in the Iraqi town that has been a hotbed of resistance to the U.S.-backed government, witnesses said. REUTERS/Mohammed Khodor

[TexKat]

What the hell????

A grab from a video obtained by Agence France-Presse (AFP) in Baghdad shows militants of the radical Secret Islamic Army of Iraq calling on a rival group, the Islamic Army of Iraq, to free the two French journalists held hostage since August 20.(AFP/HO)

[RottiBiz]

It's a sad day whenever we lose one of our brave young men.

Prayers for his family and loved ones.

[norton]

All but seven,
one to count cadence.

[clee1]

one to count cadence

Cadence? Islamofacists don't deserve the honor of a military cadence.

[HiJinx]

Oh well, He!!. They're mostly a bunch of staged photos.

The little boy is carrying a mortar tube as if he's launching an RPG??

Gimme a break...who took these photos, Reuters? Or Al-Jazeera?

/rant off