Clashes in Baghdad militia bastion kill eight
Sporadic overnight clashes between Shiite militiamen and US and Iraqi forces in Baghdad's Sadr City killed at least eight people, including a woman, Iraqi officials said on Sunday.
By Agencies |
BAGHDAD: Sporadic overnight clashes between Shiite militiamen and US and Iraqi forces in Baghdad's Sadr City killed at least eight people, including a woman, Iraqi officials said on Sunday.
At least 44 people were wounded in the fighting, which began around 6:00 pm (1500 GMT) and continued off and on until daybreak, the interior ministry and defence and medical officials said.
"Eight people were killed, including a woman," a medical official said. The clashes came despite a call by Shiite radical leader Moqtada al-Sadr on Friday for an end to fighting between Iraqi security forces and his Mahdi Army militia, who dominate Sadr City.
Sadr had threatened on April 19 to launch all-out war against government forces unless attacks on his militiamen came to a halt.
But on Friday, he softened his tone and called on "my brothers in the army, police and Jaish al-Mahdi (Mahdi Army) to stop the bloodshed."
He said his threat of war had been aimed at American forces. US troops began building a concrete wall in Sadr City last week in what they said was a bid to prevent rocket and mortar attacks on the heavily fortified Green Zone, seat of the Iraqi government and the US embassy, angering residents of the impoverished slum of two million people.
The latest deaths bring to more than 400 the number of people killed in Sadr City since March 25, when Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered a crackdown on militias across the country, starting in the main southern city of Basra.
In an interview aired by Al-Arabiya television on Saturday, Maliki set four conditions for ending the military assaults.
"We have four demands, not more, that all those carrying arms -- not just the Mahdi Army -- should adhere to," Maliki told the Dubai-based news channel.
"Handing in all heavy and medium weapons, and not interfering in the work of government departments," Maliki said spelling out his first two conditions, in excerpts of the interview.
"Never interfere in the tasks of the police and army, so that police and army would operate everywhere -- in Sadr City, Basra and Mosul -- without any objections," he added.
Maliki also demanded the "handing in of the wanted."
At least 44 people were wounded in the fighting, which began around 6:00 pm (1500 GMT) and continued off and on until daybreak, the interior ministry and defence and medical officials said.
"Eight people were killed, including a woman," a medical official said. The clashes came despite a call by Shiite radical leader Moqtada al-Sadr on Friday for an end to fighting between Iraqi security forces and his Mahdi Army militia, who dominate Sadr City.
Sadr had threatened on April 19 to launch all-out war against government forces unless attacks on his militiamen came to a halt.
But on Friday, he softened his tone and called on "my brothers in the army, police and Jaish al-Mahdi (Mahdi Army) to stop the bloodshed."
He said his threat of war had been aimed at American forces. US troops began building a concrete wall in Sadr City last week in what they said was a bid to prevent rocket and mortar attacks on the heavily fortified Green Zone, seat of the Iraqi government and the US embassy, angering residents of the impoverished slum of two million people.
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The latest deaths bring to more than 400 the number of people killed in Sadr City since March 25, when Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered a crackdown on militias across the country, starting in the main southern city of Basra.
In an interview aired by Al-Arabiya television on Saturday, Maliki set four conditions for ending the military assaults.
"We have four demands, not more, that all those carrying arms -- not just the Mahdi Army -- should adhere to," Maliki told the Dubai-based news channel.
"Handing in all heavy and medium weapons, and not interfering in the work of government departments," Maliki said spelling out his first two conditions, in excerpts of the interview.
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"Never interfere in the tasks of the police and army, so that police and army would operate everywhere -- in Sadr City, Basra and Mosul -- without any objections," he added.
Maliki also demanded the "handing in of the wanted."
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