IRAQ: OVER A THOUSAND SHI'ITES GATHER TO PROTECT THE OFFICE OF MOQTADER AL SADR AFTER IT WAS SURROUNDED BY U.S. FORCES AFTER SUICIDE BOMBING OF POLICE STATION

Record ID: 230503

  • Title: IRAQ: OVER A THOUSAND SHI'ITES GATHER TO PROTECT THE OFFICE OF MOQTADER AL SADR AFTER IT WAS SURROUNDED BY U.S. FORCES AFTER SUICIDE BOMBING OF POLICE STATION
  • Date: 10th October 2003
  • Summary: (U3) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (OCTOBER 9, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. HAS CROWD OUTSIDE THE OFFICES OF MOQTADER AL SADR, AUDIO OF SHEIKH ON MEGAPHONE SAYING HAWZA (RELIGIOUS AUTHORITY) CONDEMNS SUCH ACTS (REFERRING TO THE U.S. FORCES SURROUNDING THE OFFICES) (2 SHOTS) 0.09 2. HAS MAN PASSING THROUGH CROWD CARRYING AUTOMATIC RIFLE OVER HIS HEAD; SLV CROWD ON THE STREETS WITH BATONS; SLV CROWDS ENTERING THE COMPOUND FROM MAIN GATE (10 SHOTS) 1.08 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 25th October 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BAGHDAD, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVA91XVR869EODIIXRZP9X4UFJD6
  • Story Text: Over a thousand Shi'ites gather to protect the
    office of Moqtader al Sadr in Baghdad after it was
    surrounded by U.S. forces shortly after a suicide bombing
    at a nearby police station.

    More than a thousand followers of Moqtader al Sadr,
    a prominent Shi'ite leader, gathered outside his office in
    Baghdad soon after a suicide bomber blew himself up in
    front of a neighbouring police station on Thursday (October
    8, 2003).

    They came after the Mosque called people to help
    because U.S. soldiers were surrounding the building.

    Witnesses said they saw the police fighting with the
    men gathered there but did not want pictures of the attack
    broadcast for fear it would incite further violence.

    The suicide car bomber crashed through the gates of a
    Baghdad police station, killing at least three policemen
    and five civilians and wounding scores in the blast, Iraqi
    police said.

    The followers of Moqtader al Sadr have been far more
    radical in their condemnation of U.S. occupation than the
    followers of Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al Hakim, who was
    killed in a suicide attack in Najaf two months ago.

    Shi'ites, the majority of Iraq 's 25 million people,
    have been generally more accepting of the U.S. occupation
    than Sunnis, the foundation of the former regime. Many
    Shi'ites opposed Saddam because of his bloody crackdown on
    a Shi'ite uprising after Iraq's defeat in the 1991 Gulf War.


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