IRAQ: REBEL CLERIC MOQTADA AL-SADR DEFIES UNITED STATES AT NAJAF PRAYERS/EIGHT IRAQIS ARE KILLED IN CLASHES WITH U.S. TROOPS IN KERBALA

Record ID: 338046

  • Title: IRAQ: REBEL CLERIC MOQTADA AL-SADR DEFIES UNITED STATES AT NAJAF PRAYERS/EIGHT IRAQIS ARE KILLED IN CLASHES WITH U.S. TROOPS IN KERBALA
  • Date: 9th May 2004
  • Summary: (EU) KUFA, ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF NAJAF, IRAQ (MAY 7, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. REBEL SHI'ITE LEADER MOQTADA AL-SADR ENTERING MOSQUE SURROUNDED BY SUPPORTERS 0.16 2. MV /SCU AL-SADR PRAYING BEFORE GIVING HIS FRIDAY PRAYERS SERMON 0.39 (U4) KUFA, ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF NAJAF, IRAQ (MAY 7, 2004) (REUTERS) 3. SLV EXTERIOR OF KUFA MOSQUE 0.44
  • Embargoed: 24th May 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: KUFA, ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF NAJAF; KERBALA; BAGHDAD; FALLUJA; IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVA6S2NWOGVFWMJNN3XLBM9YPAVM
  • Story Text: Iraq's rebel cleric Moqtada al-Sadr defies U.S. at
    Najaf prayers as eight Iraqis killed in clashes with U.S.

    troops in Kerbala.

    Iraq's rebel Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr defied
    U.S. troops closing in on his militia army, vowing in a
    Friday (May 7, 2004) sermon to drive out the Americans as
    clashes in a nearby city left eight Iraqis dead.

    "(The Mehdi Army) has placed you (U.S. forces) between
    two difficult situations either to withdraw or you stay,
    and both situations are good for us, God willing," the
    young firebrand said in front of thousands of chanting
    supporters at the heavily guarded Kufa mosque just outside
    the holy city of Najaf, south of Baghdad.

    "If you stay, those you made homeless will kill you,
    since resistance is a natural reaction to the occupation,
    and if you withdraw you will also be defeated too."
    Speaking of U.S. President George W. Bush's apology for
    abuse of Iraqis in U.S.-run jails in Iraq, Sadr said: "It
    is to be expected that the U.S. president would apologise
    for the abuse of Iraqi detainees since he stood before the
    world and the whole world is against these immoral,
    inhumane acts that have nothing to do with religion nor
    with reason, but are connected to terrorism and sexual
    abnormality."
    Sadr has sought sanctuary in recent weeks close to
    Najaf's main Imam Ali shrine honouring the 7th century
    leader whose descendants founded the Shi'ite branch of
    Islam.

    U.S. tanks secured the Najaf governor's mansion, four
    km (two miles) from the shrine, on Thursday (May 6) as the
    U.S. authorities appointed a new Iraqi governor to run the
    city.

    But there were clashes on Friday at Kerbala, another
    holy city northwest of Najaf, which killed eight Iraqis,
    including three of Sadr's men, medical staff said.

    Wanted for the murder of a fellow cleric, Sadr has
    become increasingly isolated from the Shi'ite political
    establishment. Elder clerics are angry at his fighters' use
    of sacred sites.

    Aged about 30, Sadr enjoys wide support among young men
    from the 60-percent majority Shi'ite community oppressed
    under Saddam's Sunni-dominated secular regime.

    However, thousands of Shi'ite Muslims joined Sunni
    worshippers for Friday prayers in Baghdad's biggest Sunni
    mosque in a powerful show of unity with Sadr.

    Carrying photos of the young cleric, hundreds of
    worshippers crowded the mosque chanting support for the
    firebrand cleric.

    Echoing Sadr's own sermon in Kufa, Shi'ite and Sunni
    clerics condemned the abuse of Iraqi detainees by U.S.

    soldiers.

    "These acts (abuse of Iraqi detainees) have been
    committed a year ago but they hide them and now they are
    unveiled when the photos released and they said that there
    are thousands of these photos and this is an indication of
    the foolishness of the occupier," Sunni cleric Ahmed Hassan
    Taha told the large congregation of worshippers who packed
    the mosque.

    The cleric warned that such acts could only fuel
    tension in the volatile region.

    There were similar scenes at mosques in the restive
    town of Falluja, which had been seized by U.S. troops for
    more than 2 weeks following fierce fighting.


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