- Title: IRAQ: U.S. FORCES DESTROY OFFICES OF RADICAL SHI'ITE CLERIC.
- Date: 8th April 2004
- Summary: SADR CITY, BAGHDAD, IRAQ (APRIL 8, 2004)(REUTERS) 1. GV: DAMAGED OFFICE OF RADICAL SHI'ITE CLERIC MUQTADA AL-SADR 0.08 2. GV/MV: DAMAGE; MAN STANDING NEAR RUBBLE; DAMAGED WALLS OF OFFICE BUILDING (5 SHOTS) 0.34 3. GV: PICTURES OF IRANIAN REVOLUTIONARY LEADER RUHOLLAH KHOMEINI AND TOP SHI'ITE CLERIC MUHAMMED SADEQ AL SADR, MUQTADA'S FATHER INSIDE OFFICE 0.38 4. GV: DAMAGED WALL OF OFFICE BUILDING 0.43 5. SOUNDBITE (Arabic), EYEWITNESS, SAYING: " The (U.S.) tanks came from here and bombed the office then at 4:00 o'clock in the morning the planes came and hovered over the office and opened fire from its machine gun and then fired two missiles at the office." 0.54 6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic), MAN, SAYING: " God damn all those who dare to do such an act. God damn the Governing Council and God willing, our reply on this act will be decisive." 1.04 7. GV/MV: PEOPLE STANDING NEAR RUBBLE CAUSED BY ATTACK; PEOPLE CLEARING RUBBLE (4 SHOTS) 1.32 8. GV: U.S. TANKS IN STREET, AUDIBLE CHANTING FOR SADR (3 SHOTS) 1.54 9. LV: FAR OF PEOPLE WITH FLAGS CHANTING FOR SADR 1.59 10. GV/MV: PEOPLE DEMONSTRATING IN FRONT OF UMM AL-QURA MOSQUE, FORMERLY UMM AL-MA'ARIK MOSQUE;. CROWDS CHANTING FOR UNITY (6 SHOTS) 2.34 11. SOUNDBITE (Arabic), SHEIKH, SAYING "In Falluja and Kufa., God is Greatest." 2.46 12. SOUNDBITE (Arabic), ANOTHER SHEIKH SAYING "We will carry swords and strike on head of American till they bend." 2.59 13. GV/PAN: TRUCK FULL OF FOODSTUFF; TRUCK FULL WITH SACKS OF FLOOR; PEOPLE LOADING FOODSTUFF FROM TRUCK INTO A LONG VEHICLE; LONG VEHICLE FULL WITH FOODSTUFF (3 SHOTS) 3.18 NAJAF, IRAQ (APRIL 7, 2004) (REUTERS) 14. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) ONE OF SADR'S REPRESENTATIVE IN NAJAF, AHMED AL-BAGHDADI, SAYING "All the Iraqi people is al-Mahdi Army, women, children and men. We do not fear America. We fought the most dangerous dictator in history Saddam Hussein. American will... 15. JOURNALISTS 16. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Al-BAGHDADI, SAYING: "No truce with America. It has to leave because this is the legitimate demand: first of all, the release of all the brave prisoners in Iraq, second: the withdrawal of Americans from Iraq , in order to open the way for the creation of a revolutionary and progressive government for the brave, Iraqi people". 4.04 SADR CITY, BAGHDAD, IRAQ (APRIL 8, 2004) (REUTERS) 17. GV/MV: MORE OF LORRIES LOADED WITH FOODSTUFFS HEADING OUT OF BAGHDAD (2 SHOTS) 4.15 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 23rd April 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: SADR CITY, BAGHDAD AND NAJAF, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVAA7388JROPNXSN1U9BFHEB2MJP
- Story Text: U.S forces destroy office of radical Shi'ite cleric
in Baghdad.
U.S tanks and helicopters are reported to have
attacked the office of Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr at
dawn on Thursday (April 8) in Baghdad's Shi'ite slum of
Sadr City.
Residents say tanks first opened fire on the office and
then helicopters fired two rockets on it, reducing it to
rubble.
No one was hurt in the attack as there was no one
inside the office at time of attack.
"The (U.S.) tanks came from here and bombed the office
then at 4:00 o'clock in the morning the planes came and
hovoured over the office and opened fire from its machine
gun and then fired two missiles at the office," said one of
the eyewitness.
Other people vowed revenge for this act, attacking
Iraq's U.S. backed Governing Council.
"God damn all those who dare to do such act. God damn
the Governing Council and God willing, our reply on this
act will be decisive," said one angry man, standing outside
the destroyed office.
U.S. tanks and armoured Humvee vehicles stood guard in
front of police stations across the impoverished district
which is home to more than two million people, as
heavily-armed soldiers were posted on the rooftops.
Schools remained closed and many shops opted not to
open.
On Tuesday night, four people were killed and six
others wounded in clashes between U.S. forces and al-Sadr's
militia.
On Sunday, Sadr had told his followers to "terrorise"
the enemy because protests had become useless. It was not
clear whether his call for escalating the confrontation was
an order to resort to violence
A coalition spokesman revealed on Monday an arrest
warrant was in force against Sadr for the murder of a rival
cleric, Abdel Majid al-Khoei, last April, just days after
the fall of president Saddam Hussein.
In Baghdad thousands marched in support of the
firebrand cleric and his uprising against the U.S.led
occupying forces.
Around four thousands people gathered in front of Umm
al-Qura Mosque in Baghdad in a show of unity between Iraq's
Sunnis and Shi'ites.
The protesters marched through the streets of Baghdad
denouncing the U.S. assault on the western Sunni-populated
city of Falluja and the handling of radical Shi'ite
uprising in the south.
They said that all the Iraqi people would fight the
United States until it pulled out of Iraq.
"We will carry swords and strike on the head of
American till they bend," a mosque sheikh, who took part in
the march said.
The people also donated trucks loaded with foodstuffs for
the beseiged people of Falluja
In Najaf, one of al-Sadr's representatives, Ahmed
al-Baghdadi, claimed all Iraqis were part of al-Mahdi army
including women and children and no-one feared America.
They had after all fought the most dangerous dictator in
history, Saddam Hussein, he said.
He called on America to withdraw from Iraq to allow a
revolutionary and progressive government to be created.
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