IRAQ: IRAQI DEFENCE MINISTER WARNS MEHDI ARMY TO LAY DOWN ARMS, NAJAF FIGHTING LATEST.

Record ID: 208407

  • Title: IRAQ: IRAQI DEFENCE MINISTER WARNS MEHDI ARMY TO LAY DOWN ARMS, NAJAF FIGHTING LATEST.
  • Date: 18th August 2004
  • Summary: (W4) NAJAF, IRAQ (AUGUST 18, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. TRACKING SHOT: VIEW FROM VEHICLE DRIVING THROUGH CITY CENTRE 0.04 2. LV: SMOKE RISING ABOVE CITY 0.12 3. GV/LV: U.S. TANK ON STREET; U.S. TANK TAKING UP POSITION (2 SHOTS) 0.35 4. GV/CU: CAR ON EMPTY STREET, DAMAGE TO SHOPFRONT; EMPTY STREET (AUDIO GUNFIRE) (3 SHOTS) 0.57 5. GV: U.S. TANK ON STREET 1.05 6. LV/CU/GV: EMPTY STREET (AUDIO GUNFIRE); SPENT BULLETS ON GROUND; EMPTY STREET (AUDIO GUNFIRE) (3 SHOTS) 1.33 7. MV: U.S. SOLIDER ON MILITARY VEHICLE 1.39 8. GROUND TO AIR, PAN: U.S. HELICOPTER FLYING OVERHEAD 1.46 9. GV: U.S. TANK MOVING ON STREET, U.S. MILITARY VEHICLE PARKED 1.54 10. GROUND TO AIR, PAN: U.S. HELICOPTER FLYING OVERHEAD 2.03 11. GV: TRAFFIC ON STREET, IRAQI POLICE CARS, IRAQI POLICEMAN DIRECTING TRAFFIC 2.13 (W4) NAJAF, IRAQ (AUGUST 18, 2004)(REUTERS-ACCESS ALLl) 12. GV TO MV: DEFENCE MINISTER HAZIM SHAALAN AND MINISTER OF STATE QASSIM DAWOOD GOING DOWN STAIRS 2.20 13. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SHAALAN, SAYING: "God Willing, we are about to complete all our military preparations and we are waiting for the coming hours, and God willing they will be decisive hours and we will teach those people a lesson in their lives, which they will never forget " ASKED BY REPORTERS IF THEY (Sadr's Mehdi Army) have a chance? SHAALAN, SAYING "Yes they have a chance during the coming hours to lay down their weapons and surrender and Moqtada al-Sadr presents himself to the Prime Minister, who will be the one to decide the fate of Sayyid Moqtada al-Sadr." ASKED BY REPORTERS ABOUT THE DEADLINE GIVEN TO MEHDI ARMY, SHAALAN, SAYING "Hours." 3.16 14. MV/MV/PAN: SHAALAN WALKING AWAY WITH SECURITY OFFICERS (2 SHOTS) 3.32 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 2nd September 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NAJAF, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVAEM2ASDZ2SG4TGB4ATI1BXBNZI
  • Story Text: Fighting contiunues in Najaf as Iraqi Defence
    Minister warns Mehdi militia to lay down their arms.



    Heavy fighting continued between Iraqi Shi'ite militiamen and U.S.

    troops in the holy city of Najaf on Wednesday (August 18).>
    Gunfire echoed through deserted streets U.S. tanks and military vehicles
    patrolled the city centre. Falah al-Muhana, the director at Najaf's main
    hospital, said 29 casualties had been brought in from the clashes in the heart
    of the old city. The number included people killed and wounded but he had no
    precise figures.

    Hospitals in the southern city have been treating civilians and Mehdi militia
    loyal to radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr since the two-week uprising
    erupted. American soldiers are treated at U.S. military camps.

    Iraq's interim defence minister said he expected a "decisive battle" to take
    place on Wednesday. "God Willing, we are about to complete all our military
    preparations and we are waiting for the coming hours, and God willing they will
    be decisive hours and we will teach those people a lesson in their lives, which
    they will never forget," Hazim al-Shalaan told Reuters in Najaf, where hopes of
    an end to nearly two weeks of fighting faded after an Iraqi peace delegation
    failed to make headway on Tuesday. "They have a chance during the coming hours
    to lay down their weapons and surrender and Moqtada al-Sadr presents himself to
    the Prime Minister, who will be the one to decide the fate of Moqtada
    al-Sadr,"al-Shalaan said.

    The uprising in the holy city, led by radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr,
    has fuelled clashes in other Shi'ite cities in southern Iraq and divided a
    national conference in Baghdad intended to advance Iraq's progress towards
    democracy.

    Insurgents fired a mortar bomb near the conference venue on Wednesday,
    witnesses said. Two more mortars were fired near the Interior Ministry in
    Baghdad, a ministry spokesman said. No casualties were reported in either
    attack.

    In Najaf, gunfire and explosions echoed across the city as U.S. troops traded
    fire with militiamen in the old city, a no-man's land of alleys and rooftops
    offering cover for snipers. The Najaf uprising has exposed Iraq's fragile
    security situation and the interim government's reliance on U.S. troops, posing
    interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi with a major dilemma ahead of elections in
    January.

    Allawi must be seen to resolve the challenge to his authority, but cannot
    afford to enrage the country's Shi'ite majority by using heavy-handed tactics
    near Najaf's shrines. The uprising, which has visited some of the worst
    violence on Iraq since a similar rebellion in April, has led to a heavy toll of
    dead and wounded among civilians. jrc/jr




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