IRAQ: Violence continues in Iraq as U.S. military says the last few days have been difficult

Record ID: 352961

  • Title: IRAQ: Violence continues in Iraq as U.S. military says the last few days have been difficult
  • Date: 26th March 2008
  • Summary: WOMEN SHOUTING NEAR BURNT OUT STALLS VARIOUS OF DAMAGED STALLS
  • Embargoed: 10th April 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVAF1EP4AADJTIK2LO1EZ0JHFFHV
  • Story Text: Violence continued in Baghdad and across Iraq on Wednesday (March 26) as a mortar round landed close to civilians in central Baghdad killing three people and wounding six others, police said.
    They said that the mortar shell landed in Karrada neighbourhood of central Baghdad.
    Smoke was visible over Baghdad's "Green Zone" government and diplomatic compound after a blast apparently caused by a rocket or mortar, Reuters witnesses said.
    Three U.S. citizens working for the U.S. government in Baghdad were seriously wounded in a mortar attack in the Green Zone, the diplomatic and government compound, a U.S. embassy spokeswoman said.
    In a separate attack, at least one civilian was killed and five others wounded when a mortar round landed in a residential area in southern Baghdad, police said.
    In the northern town of Tikrit at least five people, including a judge were killed in a U.S. air strike, residents said.
    Residents said that the US jet fighters targeted three houses in the town, adding that the women and children were among the casualties.

    "Those are five members from my family whom I should recognize. It was so hard for me to recognize them as the bodies were charred. This is the American democracy. This is the human rights that Bush has called for,"
    one resident said.
    Residents of the sprawling Baghdad slum of Sadr City say U.S. forces set fire to a popular market on Tuesday but they gave no further details.
    The blaze continued overnight and on Wednesday shopkeepers and local residents began a clean up.
    A U.S. Military Spokesman has said that the last few days in Iraq have been a challenge.

    "This has been a difficult and challenging few days it has also been a period of significant effort by the Iraqi government and their security forces to deal with violence that criminal activity has been contributing to," U.S. Military Spokesman Major-General Kevin Bergner said at a news conference in Baghdad.
    Bergner also said that Iraqi security forces who are fighting Shi'ite militants in Basra are better prepared than they were one year ago.

    "A year ago the Iraqi security forces would have struggled to move this force. They would have not been able to support it and it would have been difficult for the government then to take this strong position against the criminals," Bergner added.
    In Sadr city, hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets to protest against the US and Iraqi forces who sealed off the area after heavy clashes erupted in the area, killing of 14 and wounding 140 others.
    Around two hundred protesters also took to the streets of the holy city of Kerbala in support Shi'ite fighters, loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr.
    Chanting "no to random arrests", the demonstrators walked in the streets of Kerbala, carrying holy book of Quran and banners pro Mehdi army fighters.
    Washington aims to bring 20,000 of its 160,000 troops home by July after a build-up of troops reduced violence dramatically last year. But violence has increased in the past few months.
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