Posted on 01/28/2007 11:06:07 AM PST by cgk
Edited on 01/28/2007 11:44:41 AM PST by Sidebar Moderator. [history]
U.S., Iraqi forces kill 250 militants in Najaf Sun Jan 28, 2007 2:16 PM ET
NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. and Iraqi forces killed 250 gunmen in a fierce battle involving U.S. tanks and helicopters on the outskirts of the Shi'ite holy city of Najaf on Sunday, a senior Iraqi police officer said. The day-long battle was continuing after nightfall, Colonel Ali Nomas told Reuters, as tens of thousands of pilgrims converged on the nearby city of Kerbala for the climax of the Ashura commemorations. A U.S. helicopter was shot down in the fighting, Iraq security sources said. The U.S. military declined comment. A Reuters reporter saw a helicopter come down trailing smoke. Shi'ite political sources said the gunmen appeared to be both Sunni Arabs and Shi'ites loyal to a cleric called Ahmed Hassani. In Baghdad, 13 people were killed in bombings in mainly Shi'ite areas, police said. Twin car bombs targeting ethnic Kurds killed 16 people as night fell in the northern oil city of Kirkuk, whose population is a volatile mix of Kurds, Turkmen and Sunni and Shi'ite Arabs. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims have converged on Iraq's other main Shi'ite holy city, Kerbala, for Ashura, marking the 7th century Battle of Kerbala, which helped consolidate the schism between Shi'ite and Sunni Islam. It ends on Monday. It is the first time the 10-day annual ritual has been held since violence erupted last February between Iraq's majority Shi'ites and once-dominant minority Sunnis. Tens of thousands have since been killed in tit-for-tat killings. The governor of Najaf province said Iraqi troops fought a day-long battle with up to 200 Sunni gunmen, including foreign fighters, holed up in orchards on the northern outskirts of the city, seat of Iraq's most powerful Shi'ite clerics. Governor Asaad Abu Gilel told Reuters the authorities had uncovered a plot to kill some of the clerics on Monday, to coincide with the climax of Ashura. "There is a conspiracy to kill the clergy on the 10th day of Muharram," Najaf governor Abu Gilel said, referring to the day of the Muslim calendar on Monday. A Reuters reporter about 1.5 km (1 mile) from the fighting said he heard intense gunfire and saw U.S. helicopters rocket groves sheltering militants. He saw smoke trailing from one helicopter before it came down in the midst of the fighting. He was unable to see what had happened to the helicopter, but officers in Iraq's 8th Army Division and policemen said it had crashed and that the two crew members were dead. The U.S. military said it did not comment on operations still taking place. (Additional reporting by Aseel Kami, Sherko Raouf in Sulaimaniya) |
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More info (but from this site take it with a grain of salt):
Fighting Breaks Out In Najaf
Fringe Shia Movement Clashes With Iraqi and American Troops
By NIR ROSEN, ALI SADA Posted 8 hr. 34 min. ago
Fierce fighting has broken out in Najaf and it is alleged that the chief of police there has been fatally wounded. Fighting involves the Americans and the Iraqi National Guard on one side and a fringe Shia sect called the Yamani Group on the other side, though it is alleged that American soldiers accidentally targeted members of the I.N.G. as well.
Al Yamani is another name for Ahmed bin al Hassan who was a student of Ayatollah Mohammed al Sadr, the Shia cleric slain in 1999 and the father of Muqtada al Sadr. About two years ago al Yamani began calling on people to follow him and claiming that he had seen Imam al Mahdi (the twelfth Shia Imam who went into occultation in the 10th century AD and is expected to return like the messiah) and that the Mahdi had ordered him to lead the nation. He sent letters to presidents and leaders (including Bush in the U.S. and Khamenai in Iran ) asking them to leave power and submit to his orders. Until recently his movement was quiet and it was ignored by Shia and the authorities. It is still not clear why the fighting has started but the Yamani group issued a statement on their website accusing the Iraqi forces of targeting and destroying one of their mosques.
http://www.iraqslogger.com/index.php/post/1051/Fighting_Breaks_Out_In_Najaf
PC war is a formula to lose...
I stand corrected! I wouldn't have expected a Sunni force of that size to be operating as far south as Najaf. I wonder if the cleric named above is any relation to the Hassani that had been Speaker of Parliament under Allawi.
That mortar fire came from those guys who Al Sadr told us had put all their weapons away. Let's see, how long was his word good for.... three days, maybe?
"Has anyone checked Sadr's panties for stains lately?"
Al Sadr is hiding in Iran like his hezzy buddy in Lebanon.
These people are cowards. Putting a bacon wrapped bullet through their brains is just too good a death for them.
MNJohnnie just stated CNN reported on the copter but nada re: the terrorists killed. Unbelievable.
U.S., Iraqi forces kill 250 militants in Najaf
Sun Jan 28, 2007 2:16 PM ET
NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. and Iraqi forces killed 250 gunmen in a fierce battle involving U.S. tanks and helicopters on the outskirts of the Shi'ite holy city of Najaf on Sunday, a senior Iraqi police officer said.
The day-long battle was continuing after nightfall, Colonel Ali Nomas told Reuters, as tens of thousands of pilgrims converged on the nearby city of Kerbala for the climax of the Ashura commemorations.
A U.S. helicopter was shot down in the fighting, Iraq security sources said. The U.S. military declined comment. A Reuters reporter saw a helicopter come down trailing smoke.
Shi'ite political sources said the gunmen appeared to be both Sunni Arabs and Shi'ites loyal to a cleric called Ahmed Hassani.
In Baghdad, 13 people were killed in bombings in mainly Shi'ite areas, police said.
Twin car bombs targeting ethnic Kurds killed 16 people as night fell in the northern oil city of Kirkuk, whose population is a volatile mix of Kurds, Turkmen and Sunni and Shi'ite Arabs.
Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims have converged on Iraq's other main Shi'ite holy city, Kerbala, for Ashura, marking the 7th century Battle of Kerbala, which helped consolidate the schism between Shi'ite and Sunni Islam. It ends on Monday.
It is the first time the 10-day annual ritual has been held since violence erupted last February between Iraq's majority Shi'ites and once-dominant minority Sunnis. Tens of thousands have since been killed in tit-for-tat killings.
The governor of Najaf province said Iraqi troops fought a day-long battle with up to 200 Sunni gunmen, including foreign fighters, holed up in orchards on the northern outskirts of the city, seat of Iraq's most powerful Shi'ite clerics.
Governor Asaad Abu Gilel told Reuters the authorities had uncovered a plot to kill some of the clerics on Monday, to coincide with the climax of Ashura.
"There is a conspiracy to kill the clergy on the 10th day of Muharram," Najaf governor Abu Gilel said, referring to the day of the Muslim calendar on Monday.
A Reuters reporter about 1.5 km (1 mile) from the fighting said he heard intense gunfire and saw U.S. helicopters rocket groves sheltering militants. He saw smoke trailing from one helicopter before it came down in the midst of the fighting.
He was unable to see what had happened to the helicopter, but officers in Iraq's 8th Army Division and policemen said it had crashed and that the two crew members were dead. The U.S. military said it did not comment on operations still taking place.
(Additional reporting by Aseel Kami, Sherko Raouf in Sulaimaniya)
The bigger the slum, the holier it is to them.
The holier someplace is to us, the better we take care of it.
They have lots of slums, ergo they have a lot of "holy" cities sacred to Satan. The Lord of the Flies is best worshipped in a garbage dump.
Would that be al-Baghdadi by any chance?
CNN.com breaking:
Iraqi and U.S. forces have killed an estimated 250 to 300 gunmen in the Shiite holy city of Najaf during heavy fighting, an interior ministry official tells CNN.
"What really burns me up about all of this is why the *** didn't we do this before the election?"
I've been asking the same question the last three years!
Gee, I thought all that cousin marryin' stuff was limited to the Appalachians and the British royalty... < /sarc >
I believe they're saying that at least a "close adviser" of Sadr was killed in this battle today...
Amen. Too bad they can't carry pig's feet with them as well.
Let the military do it's job without hamstringing them and the drawdown can start at the end of the summer.
Kick ASS, guys! Well done!
Excellent tactics. Always start out by destroying the weapons depots.
Politics....until recently Iragi government wouldn't allow the American military to do what needed to be done.
250 dead is a lot of terrorists, and my guess is that the helicopter was a trigger event for an operation against a full clan-based militia that may have been in the offing for some time. I am concerned about the sudden popularity of surface-to-air missiles. This parallels what we did against the Soviets in Afghanistan some thirty years ago now, and it would be good to know where these weapons came from. I have a very short list of suspects.
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